FOCUS on Industrial
Archaeology No. 61, December 2003
Articles:
Have your say on the future of
the National Monuments Record
Meetings and Activities Return to HomePage
Rescue & Restoration Section
Tram Restoration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hampshire Milestones Survey
-- John Horne
Interest in Hampshire milestones has revived somewhat,
if it ever went away, by the work of the Basingstoke Heritage Society. In
2001-2 that Society made a thorough survey of stones within Basingstoke and
Deane, using as a base the Roads Survey published by SUIAG in 1969. Since then,
the Editor of the 1969 survey, David Viner, has become Chairman of the
Milestones Society, a national and very active organisation, but still in need
of a little extra coverage now that milestones seem to be in need of more
protection than before.
Road improvements, neglect, theft and impact by
straying vehicles have always been problems, but a new threat now comes from
the verge-mowing machines used by the County Council's contractors. The stones
get in their way, and the machines are increasingly powerful. Fortunately, some
Local Authorities and individuals have become aware, and have done excellent
restorative work, encouraged by the Milestones Society and others. The need
seems to be to complete the database of roadside features like milestones. This
would be a step towards making contracts more specific about avoiding damage
and paying for repair.
The Basingstoke survey shows that 18 of the 67 stones
identified in 1969 have since been lost. Nine were badly damaged. On the
brighter side, they found six which were missed in 1969! They also succeeded in
getting their surviving stones Listed.
There remain some administrative details to iron out.
It is hoped, however, that a few Society members will be able to fill in some
of the gaps in our knowledge by surveying local milestones during the winter.
That's when the vegetation is less dense and the breaks for refreshment are
more cosy.
Hythe Pier – Angela Smith
The 122-year-old pier at Hythe on Southampton Water
was severed at 6.13pm on Saturday November 1st by an errant dredger, the Donald
Redford. The pier provides a vital link to the Town Quay in Southampton via the
even older Hythe Ferry, which may date to the 16th century. On that evening
both ferries - the 1946-built Hotspur IV and the newer Great Expectations - had
just landed full loads of football supporters on the pier and the little
electric train was in the station. Fortunately no one was on the pier apart
from Hotspur IV at the seaward end, the other ferry having sailed again for
Southampton. The Donald Redford had left its berth on the Itchen and an eye
witness fishing at Hythe Marina watched in amazement as the vessel steered
towards the pier before hitting it centrally and making a fruitless attempt at
reversing before becoming stuck on the mud.
All rescue services were immediately called in as it
was feared that perhaps not everyone had left that part of the pier.
Fortunately no casualties were found after searches which continued to the
following morning. The crew of Hotspur IV was rescued by launch, and the Donald
Redford had to wait until 3am on Sunday morning to be refloated by a tug on the
rising tide. The ship's captain was arrested and released on police bail.
Radio Solent's Dennis Skillicorn was out in his boat
at 7am to report on the scene, in pretty appalling weather conditions. The bow
of the dredger had completely cut through the pier, but power cables were still
connected and straddling the gap, estimated at some 50ft. I had heard news of
the collision on the 11pm news on Radio 2 Saturday night and immediately looked
at both the national and local Ceefax news to check I had heard correctly -
that it was our Hythe Pier and not in Kent. Being a Waterside resident, I
frequently use the ferry to go to Southampton. Sunday morning saw Nigel and I
surveying the scene from the marina, and it was a sorry sight. The dredger had
hit the pier right at the point where re-decking was taking place, so the
little trolley which had been built to transport the heavy planks had also been
a casualty. Twisted metal from the pier supports and railings hung into the
water and planks lay at odd angles. Staff from White Horse Ferries were at the
lock entrance to Hythe Marina investigating the use of the pontoon outside the
lock for operating their ferries; they had borrowed Blue Funnel's Jenny R temporarily
and an inspector was checking for boarding safety as passengers had to be
helped across the gap. Their own ferries now operate from this pontoon.
The repair bill was estimated at about £300,000 but
the dredger owners, invoking obscure legislation within the Merchant Shipping
Act, were only offering £167,000. Negotiations are still taking place at the
time of writing this item on November 29th. The 37-year-old captain was charged
with endangering life and causing serious damage to the pier and appeared at
New Forest magistrates court on November 27th, where it transpired he had been
under the influence of alcohol. He is due to appear at Southampton magistrates
court in January.
Have your say on the future of the National Monuments Record --
Tony Yoward
(English Heritage
Consulation Paper)
Now is the time to have your say on the future
direction of the National Monuments Record, the nation's archive of the
historic environment.
There are some major questions to be answered:
1. What should
the national archive contain?
2. Which
services are of the greatest value?
3. What is the
rôle of national,regional and local institutions in archives and databases?
4. Should the
National Monuments Record concentrate on records created by English Heritage
itself, or on the records created by
other bodies and individuals concerned with the historic environment?
5. What is the
balance between utilising the resources of the National Monuments Record and advising
other bodies on how to utilise their information resource?
English Heritage inherited responsibility for the
National Monuments Record in 1999. It includes over 6 million photographs, 300
000 drawings and over one million database records.
The archive is housed in a new world-class
environmentally controlled repository. It has established a significant online
presence that includes the 'Images of England' website, which is a photographic
record of the listed buildings of England at the start of the 21st century, and
Viewfinder.
But they wish to make its resources available online
and this is where you can assist by completing their questionnaire.
Comments on their service and records may be made by completing
the questionnaire which is available on the web: www.NMRreview.org or by phoning 01793-414732 and requesting a
copy.
Now is your chance to have a say in the future of our
national records.
Replies have to be received by February 6th, so you
have plenty of time to have your say!
Livio Dante Porta, 1922-2003 . A Genius with Steam -- Gerald Davies
The name Porta is probably not familiar to many, even
among the afficionados of the steam locomotive. It should, however, be up
alongside the likes of Gresley, Stanier and Bulleid, as his contribution to the
enhancement of steam propulsion was every bit as deserving. Unfortunately Livio
Porta, who qualified as a scientist rather than as a mechanical engineer, spent
most of his life in distant Argentina. He came on the scene when steam was in
decline throughout the world's railways, which were being subjected to the
relentless pressures of the diesel and electric lobbies from the 1940s onwards.
Had the era of steam locomotion continued beyond the
middle decades of the 20th centuty, Porta's influence would undoubtedly have
been more widely recognised. By the time he had completed his studies at the
University of Buenos Aires in 1946, the classic mainline steam locomotive,
which had evolved steadily from the days of Robert Stephenson - albeit without
much radical innovation - was in the final stage of development both in Europe
and North America. Porta was a great admirer and friend of the famous French
locomotive engineer Andre Chapelon, whose final designs of highly efficient and
powerful locomotives embarrassed even the electric traction lobby and had the
diesels of that time beaten hands down. However, although the simple, robust
and relatively cheap reciprocating steam locomotive continued to make sense in
countries like India and China well into the 1990s, there appeared to be no
room for further technological development of steam power in the more advanced
countries of Europe and North America.
Porta, however, thought differently and, following the
principles of his mentor, Chapelon, he considered the steam locomotive fully,
systematically using his wide knowledge of scientific reasoning. He saw the
steam locomotive not just as a machine based on internal streamline workings,
but one which would take into account social, economic and ecological concerns
also as these factors became of more widespread concern. For much of his career
he was constrained into making the existing types of locomotive in use on the
railways of South America and Southern Africa more efficient. His first major
redesign was that of a Pacific of the Argentinian State Railways into a
streamlined compound 4-8-0, but this was only a singular example. Working on
improvements in gas producer combustion and exhaust, he succeeded in increasing
both power and efficiency, reducing the coal consumption of locomotives out of
all proportion to their size or age. A fleet of 2-6-2 suburban tank locomotives
which received the Porta treatment in the 1950s out-performed much larger
mainline locomotives. Here again, though, the imperious powers of General
Motors with their range of ubiquitous diesels prevailed and dictated the future
of the majority of South American railways.
Porta, however, was not finished with steam, taking up
the post in 1957 of General Manager with the Rio Turbio Railway, isolated as it
was in Patagonia. This railway was entirely devoted to the transport of coal,
mined in the foothills of the Andes, to the Atlantic coast port of Rio Gallagos
for export. The railway company had recently acquired a fleet of powerful
2-10-2 locomotives, built by Mitsubishi in Japan, which Porta turned into
arguably one of the most efficient fleet of steam locomotives ever. They
continued to work reliably and extremely economically until 1997.
In 1960 Porta returned to Buenos Aires to pursue a
more academic career, taking the post of Head of Thermodynamics at the
Institute Nacional de Tecnologica, in which capacity he produced some 200
scientific papers. His ideas were by this time being taken up by other
manufacturers of steam locomotives who had become something of a dying breed.
Hunslet of Leeds, for instance, employed his techniques of improved combustion
to reduce pollution from their locomotives being supplied to the NCB and other
industrial users. In 1980, the American Coal Enterprise invited him to advise
on the development of an entirely new generation of heavy freight locomotives,
though this project was unfortunately not pursued. The Cuban authorities approached
him in 1999 to design them a locomotive which could burn a variety of cheap
fuels, including sugar cane husks, a design which proved to be one of the
cheapest of all locomotives to run and maintain.
More recently he had been advising Sulzers in Switzerland:
also David Wardale in this country, who is working on the development of a
Class 5 locomotive based on Porta's design principles, which will be capable of
125mph. This is attracting interest among British operators for running steam
specials, currently restricted to 75mph with restored BR locomotives.
The railway world has therefore much to thank this
very able man, who was both scientist and practical locomotive engineer, even
though he arrived on the scene too late to claim a place among the greats. He
died in his native Argentina in June 2003 aged 81, but his legacy to steam
locomotion will surely not die with him.
Meetings and Activities -- Rosie Voller
May - Visit to Tram 57 Project
June - Claverton Pumps, Bath
July - Outdoor Visit to the Museum
of Electricity, Christchurch
August - Members' Slides and Book
Sales
September- Postcards
October - Cheers-Pubs of Portsmouth
November - AGM and Photo
Competition
About 30 members visited the Millbrook
"tramshed" in May and enjoyed meeting up and viewing the progress on the
trams. Nigel and Angela must be congratulated on the excellent work carried out
by them and their small band of volunteers.
Our June speaker was George Eycot, a member of the
Kennet and Avon Trust, who gave an illustrated talk about Claverton Pumps near
Bath. The building was opened in 1727 to supply water to the Kennet and Avon
Canal, surrounded by countryside with a few cottages close by which has
undergone few changes. A house extension was built in I783 and, later on, the
site was sold to the Great Western Railway. Very high flood marks can be seen,
clearly showing the problems caused by excess water every year. Due to the
decline of use of the canal, the building was closed in 1936. In the early
1960s about 10 to 15 members of the Kennet and Avon Trust and their families,
with a number of Bath University students, got together to start restoring the
site. As the canal leaked through limestone, it was necessary to re-line with
concrete - what a job shovelling and blocking off to reflood and fill up where
necessary. The time taken to do this work, including restoring the building
(the pump only runs once a month), was well worth it to see the canal in full
use. A model of Claverton was brought to the meeting by John and June Adams,
members of Bristol IA and Kennet & Avon Trust, giving everyone the chance
to see how it all worked. Our thanks to our speakers coming from Newbury and
Bath sharing with us their enthusiasm for this extraordinary IA project.
In July about 15 members visited the
Museum of Electricity, Christchurch, which is believed to be the only surviving
Edwardian power station in Britain. It was opened in 1903 as a generating
station to serve the Christchurch area and, from 1905, the power generated was
supplied to the trams running from Poole to Christchurch. In 1926 the building
was used as a sub-station until the late 1970s, when it was converted to house
many time warp displays. The jewel in the crown is the last remaining complete
Bournemouth tramcar, number 85, built in 1914 and loaned by the Science Museum.
Restored in its original livery, our members clambered aboard to get a taste of
past memories. We then climbed the smart-looking cast iron staircase to enjoy
Andy Collins' exhilarating demonstrations of very early electrical experiments
in which some of us participated, after which we visited the home
entertainments display containing various items, from a cat's whisker set to
early radios, very grand radiograms, walkie talkies as well as a smart horn
gramophone. The next display contained early domestic cookers, vacuum cleaners,
washing machines, irons, kettles and potentially dangerous open element
toasters. Most of us admitted to retaining one or two of the smaller items of
memorabilia in our collections. By coincidence Andy mentioned his late father
Bill Collins (died 1998) who was a bandleader at the Royal Pavilion Bournemouth
as well as playing other gigs. The strange thing is that one of our visiting
members, John Chapman, had played drums for Bill Collins in Bill's final year
at the Royal Pavilion. Many thanks to Eric Jones the Curator and Stewards Andy
and Ian for kindly opening up and taking us around the displays etc. Perhaps
next year we might consider arranging a day trip to Dorset and to include a
visit to this interesting museum.
In August our members took us on a
tour to San Francisco, Pennsylvania, Scandinavia, Northern Tuscany, Eastern
France and Ireland returning to north Hampshire and Dorset. The mix of holidays
and IA visits treated us to 1940s trams, trolley buses, old gas works, Minehead
& Yeovil railway stations, a water powered textile mill, a rather neglected
Sussex windmill, a large 16th/17th century tread wheel, a restored paddle
steamer reputed to be the oldest in the world which has been in use since 1861,
a vintage 1932 Marmon car, cinemas in Yeovil, Tooting and Brighton now in use
as bingo halls, various museums, a 'stop me and buy one' ice cream tricycle and
ferry boats. The list is endless and brought back many happy memories of the IA
visits over the years. as well as encouraging some to consider visiting further
afield.
John Silman, one of our members, gave an illustrated
talk on postcards in September assisted by Mick Edgeworth, another member, who
later used his epidioscope to show postcards directly onto the screen. John's
early collection of postcards contained a part of social and factual history in
the late 1800s and early 1900s. The series of pictures were varied such as
people harvesting in the fields with wagons and the usual equipment, a
Postmaster and his wife with a young Telegram boy outside of Shrewton Post
Office in Wiltshire, a beautifully hand written card (no later than 1910)
advertising garden plants, etc. Also included was the well known Southampton
postcard photographer FGO Stuart's village and town scenes who, on many
occasions, can be seen in his pony and trap. Images of stars of the stage and
later of screen were produced and sent to fans. Some of Donald McGill's saucy
postcards were shown, although later he went too far and was eventually sent to
prison. Apparently the first postcard was hand drawn by an unknown and sent to
himself in 1840 and was recently sold for £30,000. Seems a good investment!
Madeline
Selby was our October speaker who illustrated her talk on some of the
Portsmouth pubs. During the 16th and 17th centuries there were 80,000 ale
houses in England including countless of these houses in Portsmouth, which was
the most fortified town in England. The naval men spent most of their long
commissions cooped up in various ships and, on their return to land, drink and
'trollops' were enjoyed. During the 1st WW Lloyd George said the country was
fighting 3 evils which were: Austria, Germany and drink - and the greatest was
drink. As a result of his pressure to close down many pubs, and due to so many
being destroyed during WW2, there are now only about 170 pubs in Portsmouth.
One story Madeline told was about the Coach and Horses on the Copnor Road during
the end of the 19 century. Late one night two well-known men, who were in the
business of digging up and selling dead bodies for dissecting, parked their
horse and cart outside after making sure everything was covered up and went
inside to get some refreshments. During this time some jokers sat two of the
bodies in the seat and strung a whip in one of their hands. When the men came
out of the pub and saw this sight they ran screaming for their lives up the
Copnor road. Thank you Madeline for such an interesting subject. We look
forward to hearing more of your talks.
About 35 or so members attended the November AGM. Jeff
Pain, Mick Edgeworth and Dr Rodney Hall were re-elected to the Committee. Our
Chairman Roger Hedge asked for a volunteer to take on the Publicity Officer's
duties as John Davies had resigned. Roger thanked the committee and co-opted
members for their help and assistance in promoting HIAS. A special thank-you to
Bill White for organising the Photographic and Slide Competition: Andy Fish and
Nigel Smith were this year's winners. Thank you to those members who provided
such interesting images.
Obituary:
John Arthur Bagley, BSc, CEng, FRAeS
1929-2003
John Bagley was one of the original members of SUIAG
and he maintained his membership until his death on 27th September 2003. John
had a wide interest in I.A., although his speciality was in things
aeronautical. Unfortunately his work
frequently prevented him from attending the monthly meetings, but he was a
regular participator in the week and weekend field visits and he was often
called on to say a few words about the numerous airfields on the coach route
and, in some cases, he was able to organise conducted tours of airfields where
there were items of special interest. John was one of the earliest in the field
to catalogue and describe airfields and their buildings, as opposed to the then
standard histories which were mainly concerned with operational exploits of the
occupying squadrons. For Hampshire airfields he wrote the substantial
gazetteer, which was published in the Journal of the Hampshire Field Club in
1972.
Born in Birmingham, the son of a printer's reader who
worked on the local newspaper, John Bagley won a scholarship to King Edward's High
School. At school during the war he developed an interest in 'aircraft
spotting' and he was a founder member of Air Britain, creating its Birmingham
Branch in 1942. On leaving school he was offered a place at Kings College,
Cambridge, to follow his two years of national service, but he decided instead
to accept the opportunity of going straight to Birmingham University, where he
read the challenging subject of Mathematical Physics and learned to fly Tiger
Moths with the University Air Squadron.
Proceeding to his national service, he served in the
ranks where his duties included sweeping hangar floors. He had the good fortune
to be spotted doing this one day by one of his tutors from Birmingham
University. The University then offered the RAF suggestions on a better way to
use the talents of an honours graduate in mathematical physics! As a result,
John entered the RAE - on a 'special duties' posting to Aerodynamics
Department, wearing the uniform of an LAC!
It became clear that his abilities were well-matched
to the work and, on completion of his national service, he was appointed to the
RAE staff as a Scientific Officer,with progression to Principal Scientific
Officer in the early 1960s. He carried out research on such topics as the
calculation of lift and pressure distributions on swept wings and was also much
involved in wide-ranging studies for the Supersonic Transport Aircraft
Committee (STAC), the eventual outcome of which was the Concorde project.
Running parallel was his strong and ever-growing commitment
to aeronautical history. With his extensive and scientifically-based knowledge,
and progressive approach to the development of the subject, he became widely
known and respected. In 1967 he was involved in the founding of the British
Aviation Preservation Council, to promote and support the conservation,
restoration, interpretation and display of Britain's aviation heritage. He
served as its first Secretary, thereafter being connected with this important
body for the rest of his life.
In 1976 came the opportunity for a dramatic change;
John left RAE to become Assistant Keeper at the Science Museum, responsible for
the Aeronautical Collection. Soon he was engaged in a major development. The
pressing need for new exhibits too large to be housed at South Kensington led
to a search for additional premises. This resulted in the selection of
Wroughton in the late 1970s. With well-maintained hangars and runways, the site
allowed an immediate opportunity to initiate a civil aircraft collection
policy. The first machine, a 1936-built Douglas DC-3, was accepted in 1979
followed soon by a 1960 DH Comet 4B, presented by Dan Air immediately after
completing airline service. Later arrivals included a 1935 Lockheed L10
Electra, a 1933 Boeing 247D, a DH 84 Dragon, a Lockheed L749 Constellation, a
DH 121 Trident 3, and others. John Bagley played the major rôle in creating
this collection. He was also responsible for the entire educational display
accompanying the Concorde prototype 002 in a new hall at the Fleet Air Arm
Museum at Yeovilton. Among many other activities he secured the preservation,
by a dedicated group of enthusiasts, of the Science Museum's Short Sandringham
flying boat in Southampton Hall of Aviation. He officially retired in 1989 but
continued to assist the Science Museum in matters concerning aircraft
preservation until failing eyesight brought this to an end.
John Bagley contributed much to the Royal Aeronautical
Society. His dedication to historical accuracy and serious, objective
interpretation was hugely respected, both in the UK and abroad. Overall, he did a great deal for the
standing of the Society in the historical field.
John Bagley never sought a 'high profile' image,
preferring to work quietly and making use of his many personal contacts. He could
appear rather 'laid back' and laconic, but this disguised a strong sense of
purpose and a steady determination to achieve his objectives. As his record
shows he was, in fact, an ingenious and highly effective operator. He will be
remembered with great respect and affection by his brother and family, and his
numerous friends and working colleagues.
This commemoration has been adapted from the obituary
written by Frank Armstrong and Brian Lacey, for publication in the December
2003 Newsletter of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Their help and the
Newsletter editor's permission to use the material are gratefully
acknowledged.Foreword by John Asteraki
Ironbridge Weekend Conference on Power in Corn and
Textile Mills -- Ray Riley
AIA Conference – Rodney Hall
For many years, the annual Association for Industrial
Archaeology (AIA) Ironbridge Weekend conference was concerned with what one
might call IA support themes, such as records, how to get money and adaptive
re-use, or with broad themes like IA in the inter-war period. However, recently
there has been a switch to the industries themselves: last year the subject was
ports and next year it is likely that canals will be the theme. This year,
rather than looking at all aspects of corn and textile mills, the subject of
power was selected, covering topics dear to many (most?) industrial
archaeologists, that is, water wheels, water turbines and steam engines. There
was a modest amount of technical stuff, but not too much to deter the average
industrial archaeologist, if such exists; 30 years ago it would have
represented a problem, but we've been on a learning curve, albeit not a
particularly steep one. Some 51 participants turned up, suggesting that the
topics are indeed popular.
Beginning the proceedings appropriately with an
analysis of water wheels, Dr Jeff Hawksley, who lives at Romsey and has
published a number of papers on water wheels, outlined the various methods that
have been employed to maximise the amount of energy from the water available.
Sluices were used to increase the speed of flow of slow-running streams, but
undershot wheels suffered from the dissipation of energy caused by the
collision of water with the blades, known as shock loss; their efficiency was
only 30-33%. Wheels using the gravity principle were by contrast 60-65% efficient.
Low breast shot wheels were 40% efficient and high breast or pitchback wheels
were an improvement on this. Jeff illustrated the importance of bucket shape in
efforts to retain water for the longest possible time, and commented on factors
controlling wheel speed: flow, head, drag from the stones and the governor. For
many it was not so much what Jeff said, but the way he said it; he was able to
simplify what could easily have become impenetrable, and made good use of
diagrams. A future speaker for HIAS?
Prof Alan Crocker, who spoke next, has already
addressed HIAS on paper-making a couple of years ago. He and his wife, Glenys,
who are members of the Surrey Industrial History Society at Guildford, are well
known as gunpowder experts, but Alan has also made a study of turbines. Water
turbines, for which an efficiency of 70-80% is claimed, may have been
especially important in coal-short countries like France with abundant water
supplies, but they were nevertheless much used in Britain after the 1880s, and in
the 1920s for the generation of electric power. Alan Crocker has made a special
study of turbines, and from catalogues has found that there was an almost
bewildering array on the market, produced by such makers as Armfield, Gilkes,
Green & Carter, Howes & Ewell and Macadam Bros in Belfast. He discussed
the principles of the various types of turbine, and noted that between 1869 and
1950 there were 117 in operation in Surrey, of which 30 were in mills and
another 30 in waterworks. In other words turbines were much more important than
most people realise; perhaps it is their submerged nature which has hidden them
from the generalists' eyes. Alan suggested that similar comprehensive studies
might be undertaken for other counties, and this could be something HIAS might
want to think about.
Switching from general principles to restoration
practicalities, and from water to wind power, John Boucher, who is a mining
engineer and has been involved in restoration work, including the Ffestiniog
Railway, for much of his life, began by arguing that the best method of
conserving windmills is to keep them in operation, the minimisation of
maintenance costs being a vital consideration. While retaining the original
fabric as far as possible, rotten wood has to be replaced, steel is frequently
a replacement for iron, and present day health and safety requirements such as
fire escapes have to be built in, as does electricity for evening visits. The
use of modern equipment unavailable to the original builders, such as power
tools and cherry pickers, facilitate the lifting of sails and indeed caps, at
the same time allowing a new cap to be fabricated on the ground. Inevitably
money is an ever present issue. For one who spends more than a little time at
academic conferences where concepts tend to rule, it was refreshing to hear
John discussing the practical side of abstractions such as authenticity.
In the final talk on Saturday morning, Mike Williams,
who works for English Heritage, outlined the features of the steam power system
in textile mills: engine house, engine, boiler house, chimney and power
transmission, whether by shaft or rope drive. Having done that he reported on
an investigation into steam power in south-west England, where some 92 sites
were discovered. In contrast to Manchester, where demolition is the usual fate,
in the south-west re-use is common. Furthermore, many sites showed evidence of
steam power having been added to the original water power structures. One
couldn't help thinking that a few decades ago surveys of the kind Mike has
undertaken were carried out by local societies like SUIAG; the professionals
seemed to have moved in, or have we become complacent?
After lunch a visit was made to Daniel's (corn) Mill
in Bridgnorth, where flour is still ground by courtesy of a large diameter
water wheel. Half the group was conducted round the mill by the owner, but the
other half was looked after by his son, whose idiosyncratic delivery was
pitched at Women's Institute level, or even lower, despite the many trenchant questions
put to him. To give an example, when asked to explain the workings of the
mechanism which allowed one set of stones to be worked independently of the
others, he replied that it involved 'a dog woof woof clutch'; that is, we might
be able to understand the principle of a clutch, but we needed assistance to
get to grips with the idea of a dog. If the truth were known, a good many
industrial archaeologists are railway enthusiasts, although for some reason it
seems not to be a good idea to admit it. Thus for some, the highlight was a
Severn Valley train puffing along the viaduct behind the mill; the organisers
had to admit that this was an unscheduled add-on. Subsequently the derelict
Benthall (corn) Mill adjacent to the iron bridge itself in Ironbridge was
inspected. Jonathan Briggs produced some historic photos which gave rise to
lively discussion about what was now to be seen. Several participants remarked
how the site reminded them of days before IA largely became a packaged product
with site leaflets in the adjacent heritage centre, Further tests of the
imagination were made at the after-dinner quiz, where bizarrely the right
answer to many of the questions was not 'yes' or 'no', but 'nonsense'. Funnily
enough the winner was a former student of the quiz organiser, so doubtless he
had a bit of an advantage.
The Sunday morning session was kicked off by Alan
Stoyel from English Heritage, who has undertaken a thorough survey of textile
mills in south-west England. Reliance was placed on water power for much longer
than in Yorkshire, for example, and indeed a water-powered mill was actually
built as late as 1890, while water-powered machine shops were by no means rare.
Yet few turbines were installed. A small number of fulling mills has survived -
the louvres on one suggesting that cloth had been dried within the mill. Not
only were mixed use mills present, but also some mills had provision for hand
processing, scotching the notion that hand looms belong exclusively to the
domestic phase of the industry.
It may not have been a common event, but certainly
from time to time post mills were shifted from one site to another in the 18th
and early 19th centuries; Peter James, a member of the Sussex IA Society,
described the trials and tribulations of moving Lowfield Heath post mill, near
Gatwick airport, some three miles to another site much more recently, in 1987.
As John Boucher had earlier demonstrated, modern technology facilitated
dismantling, transfer and rebuilding, and similarly as much as possible of the
old fabric was retained. Purists may object, but without such strategy a
working mill would be an impossibility, while in any case repairs are
constantly carried out during the life of any building.
In the final presentation Jeremy Milln, who works for the
National Trust, described in considerable detail the evolution of power
provision at Quarry Bank Mill at Styal in Cheshire. His research made
abundantly clear that as the mill grew in size and as new technology made its
appearance, so there was constant modification to power supply. Since the mill
was built in 1784, it is hardly surprising that the tracing of change has been
very much a piece of detective work. Thus water wheels were added in 1801 and
1807, an iron suspension wheel was in place by 1820, in 1824 a Boulton &
Watt engine was installed, a relatively small horizontal engine came to power
the mechanics' shop, and towards the end of the century a large turbine was put
in, working until 1959. One wonders about the hours involved in research were
the exercise undertaken for other large mills in the country. In contrast to
Jeff Hawksley, who was able to generalise about a detailed subject, Jeremy was
concerned to ensure that no detail was missed, and as a consequence it was not
easy (at least for this reporter... ) to hold in one's mind the minutiae of
previous slides necessary to understand the next.
Rounding off the weekend, there were three members'
contributions. Tony Bonson reported on Park (corn) Mill at Congleton, Cheshire,
a grade II* listed building, where not only the conversion plans of 1833 signed
by William Fairbairn have survived, but also much of the machinery featuring in
the drawings. The mill is thus an important testimony to the work of this
celebrated engineer. Tony Yoward treated the audience to an account of his
early involvement in IA, and then described the corn mill archive which he,
together with SPAB, have created. Some 20 substantial donations, including
those from Ken Major and Alan Stoyel, have been received, and it is planned to
procede on a county basis. Furthermore, some 30,000 millers and millwrights are
included in the archive. It is anticipated that the archive will be on-line in
August 2003. Derek Brumhead spoke about the development of power at the 1788
Torr Vale (textile) Mill at New Mills near Manchester. It is grade II listed,
but lacks machinery; its future is doubtful. Derek led a visit to this mill at
the Manchester AIA conference in 2000, and for those present the slides shown
had additional relevance.
It is worth mentioning that the fee for the
conference, including the dinner, was only £27, even if that did not cover
overnight accommodation. There is a plethora of accommodation available in the
area, having sprung up to cater for the thousands of visitors to the packaged
Ironbridge sites, and there is a variety of prices. Some participants stayed in
the Coalbrookdale Youth Hostel; apparently potato peeling and dishwashing are
regrettably no longer skills required at such establishments.
AIA Conference 2003 -- Rodney Hall
After last year at Edinburgh, it was the turn of
Cardiff in 2003 to host the conference. Next year is London (Hatfield to be precise);
will Belfast follow!!. The venue was the Cyncoed campus of University of Wales
Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) and the format was the same as previous years, namely
a seminar on Friday entitled Research, Recording and Regeneration of Industrial
Landscapes; the conference proper on the Saturday and Sunday, followed by 4
days of field trips and evening lectures. A very intensive programme.
Seminar
In England, the fate of the 14 maltings at Mistley
(Essex) was discussed; extant, re-used or demolished (with or without some sort
of recording). The study, investigation and preservation of the industrial
remains in the Park Bridge valley east of Manchester followed. 'THE DOME'
loomed very small (as it should!) as we heard about the many and varied
industries that have existed on the Greenwich peninsula in London. London also
featured in the way industrial buildings can have a positive influence in
redevelopment projects with the use of planning guidance document PPG 15 in the
process.
Having got rid of the 'foreign' subjects, attention
turned to Wales. Here we heard about the less well-known features of the
Blaenavon landscape that went towards the designation of World Heritage status.
Since designation, the number of visitors to Big Pit and the Ironworks has significantly
increased. Regeneration of industrial areas appears to need a critical number
of schemes to be successful and a partnership of national and local interests.
The Nantlle valley near Caernarfon produced much slate, and much remains of the
industry but a Trust to manage the landscape has, as yet, little success, a
copy of touristy Llanberis or Blaenau Ffestiniog not being deemed feasible.
Even in Blaenau Ffestiniog change, often seen as inappropriate, is taking place
and one man's efforts to artistically record the landscape was heard. The
National Trust finds itself owner of industrial remains through land
acquisition and what to do and how to manage these often small-scale sites
needs addressing. One particular site, the Dolaucothi gold mine, has had a
detailed survey made and reinterpretation of various features and the
preservation required.
Conference
After the brief welcoming of delegates, we launched
straight into a general overview of the industries of South-East Wales.
Naturally iron and coal predominated with furnace and colliery but a large
range of ancillary industries grew up around the basic production as well as
later attempts to widen the base from too much dependence on those two
industries. For those resisting the temptation of the bar, members'
contributions provided diversity in the form of 'building of the Uganda
Railway' from Mombassa, illustrations of Welsh chapels, which differ in several
ways from English chapels, and the history, with examples, of the Pontypool
Japanware industry.
Early industrial enterprises often attracted the
attention of artists, ironworks being more spectacular and earlier than
collieries, were more popular. The resultant paintings can reveal important but
largely unknown aspects of the industries depicted. Products of the Welsh
Valleys were often exported and the docks at Cardiff, with the later addition
of Penarth and Barry, came into existence mainly to handle coal, 24 million
tons in l913. These docks generated the formation of shipping companies, ship repairers
and other ancillary businesses.
A major expansion of the Maritime Museum at Swansea
into a Welsh National Museum, which will tell the story of Welsh industry and
social activities, is in the process of being built. The Royal Commission of
Ancient and Historic Monuments, Wales is active in many spheres. A database of
historic sites, one third industrial, has been compiled, while other projects,
some industrial, are ongoing. New methods of surveying have greatly speeded up
the process and resulted in the recognition of new sites and reappraisal of the
importance of others. The Scottish Royal Commission is still in being (the
English Royal Commission recently became part of English Heritage) and also
developing their web site among other activities. TICCIH, the international
organisation for industrial archaeology, has several important developments in
progress with increasing ability to influence and lobby governments around the
world on IA matters.
The Annual General Meeting of the AIA is little different
from other AGMs. The Association generally provides support to fight cases for
I.A. sites, provide advice and information on I.A. topics and be concerned with
Government legislation. Although very successful at present, the conference is
very demanding on the volunteer organisers, so the future form of the
conference is to be reviewed. The AIA runs awards to promote good techniques in
I.A., these being presented for projects in Recording, Initiative, Fieldwork
and Conservation, and additional award for students, no awards being made if no
entries or inadequate entries are received for a category. Three winners of
this year's awards then gave presentations of their work:- Recording a
by-now-closed forge in Manchester, the cutlery trade in Sheffield and the
excavation of a mining camp in the USA. This year awards were also given for
I.A. society publications:- Newsletters, Journals and occasional publications
(H.I.A.S. did not enter any). Scaffolding erected for repainting of the Iron
Bridge allowed a more detailed study of the ironwork of the bridge. This
resolved some of the unknowns about the bridge and, as usual, created some
more. Another result of the study was the erection of two half-size arches to
test theories about the method used to construct the bridge in 1779.
Additional programme
The Glamorganshire Canal was built to carry coal to
the furnaces of Merthyr Tydfil and iron to the coast at Cardiff for export.
Within 10 years, volume of traffic and disagreements caused the Merthyr
tramroad to be built parallel to part of the canal, which in 1804 played host
to the world's first steam locomotive. A complete contrast was the concerns,
with examples, of a conservation architect when dealing with industrial
buildings.
The restoration of the Melingriffith water-powered
pump was undertaken by amateurs in the 1970s with many problems overcome with
various degrees of ingenuity. Sadly, since restoration, the site has been
neglected. With the advent of TV and video, along with company closures,
amalgamations and takeovers, much photographic film of industry has been
destroyed. However some individuals have made it their hobby to track down and
save what they could and 8 pieces of historic film made by national or local
industry were projected.
The Barry Docks & Railway Company was an
integrated transport concern to carry coal for export from the Welsh Valleys to
Barry. A late-comer to the railway scene, it was very successful, while coal
export flourished and a section of it is still in use. Last year national TV
coverage was given to the discovery of a 15th century ship at Newport.
Delegates were given an inside story of the excavation and problems encountered
to save the ship.
Hopefully that has given an idea of the subjects
covered during the conference but the compressing of a 45 minutes or 1 hour
talk into one sentence does not do justice to the quality and depth of the
presentations.
Field trips
With at least two tours on each day of field trips,
choices on what to visit had to be taken. Visits usually included a guided tour
of the site, or an introductory talk was given followed by a free wander around
the site. So, what was done and seen?
A walk over the top of the transporter bridge at
Newport, great views, made a good start, with a brief look at a canal and a
railway site thrown in. The neglected Melingriffith pump, the part-restored
Nantgawr pottery site and the large, derelict, Treforest tinplate works with
the impressive but plain buildings being subject to vandalism by the locals, in
spite of security fencing, was another afternoon.
The historic iron furnace site at Cefn Cribwr near
Bridgend, cleared of undergrowth and the structures partly stabilised, was
explored and a guided tour made of the nearby larger ironworks at Tondu which
does not have a standing furnace but the extant engine house is in use as
offices. The island of Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel, now a nature reserve,
has mainly military and navigational structures but also the remains of a
limekiln and an isolation hospital. The boat trip added to the adventure. The
Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans has several industrial buildings on site and
these were open for inspection before a buffet supper at the museum.
Guided tours around Chepstow and parts of Merthyr as
well as a walk from Sudbrook (no access to the pumping station for the Severn
Tunnel was given) to Black Rock where past industrial sites were pointed out.
Active industry was seen at Llanwern, where the
spectacular hot strip rolling mill, the cold continuous rolling mill and the zinc
plating mill were viewed. It was sad to see the blast furnaces, last used in
2001, being dismantled. The surface buildings around the pit head and the
nearby washery of Tower Colliery, the last working deep pit in Wales, was also
toured.
These sites have doubts over their long-term
viability. A factory repairing the jet engines for aircraft from around the
world, gave an interesting example of one of the newer industries of the area.
World Heritage Site of Blaenavon being in South East
Wales, naturally a trip there was included in the options. Other possible
visits were to the mining museum in the Rhondda Heritage Park; the town and
docks of Barry and the preserved railway; Cardiff waterfront area with a
brewery visit, and industrial sites in the Eastern Valleys and the Rhymney
valley.
Weatherwise it was not the best week of the summer for
outdoor visits and rainwear was donned on a couple of occasions but the rain
never 'stopped play'.
Another splendid conference, much learned about the
I.A. of the area, stimulating discussions and up-to-date information about what
is going on elsewhere in the world of I.A.
HIAS Rescue & Restoration Section
Mayfly Cottage, Timsbury:- The waterwheel has now been red-leaded and
undercoated. Future work includes renewing the wooden paddles and running gear,
and restoring the pumps. John Silman said he wanted to find out if the header
tank in the roof of Timsbury Manor House, which the pumps once fed with river
water, is still in situ.
Bramdean:- At the HIAS Committee Meeting on November 24, John
reported that he had been contacted by the Hampshire County Council's
conservation officer to arrange a visit to a Climax windpump, said to date back
to the 1920s and still in operable condition, at Bramdean, with a view to
applying for Listing. The suggestion had apparently come from English Heritage.
The site's well is around 100ft deep, and John is collecting information about
the windpump.
Hampshire Mills Group –
John Silman
The main concern for the HMG recently has been the
sale of Chesapeake Mill at Wickham to Taylor Haines Ltd to become an antiques
centre. Local maritime historians had hoped to buy the formerly Hampshire
County Council owned watermill, built from the timbers of a US ship captured by
the Royal Navy almost 200 years ago, and turn it into a museum. The Daily Mail
of October 17 carried a full page feature in its Property Mail, which quoted
that Hampshire County Council had considered allowing the second floor to be
converted into an apartment 'but too much of the original woodwork would have
to be spoilt to make it safe enough for residential use'. The council has
assurances from the new owners that a museum will be opened in the mill and
give the public access to the second floor, which has changed little since the
mill's construction and still retains the style of a ship's gun deck. More
recently the listing has been upgraded from Grade II to Grade II*.
Storms destroy recently-restored windmill
Ian Harden spotted a feature in the Daily Mail of
November 27th, mainly about the recent 'weather' - driving rain and fierce
winds, so 'unexpected' after the long, hot summer. Many areas had received more
rainfall in a few days than during the whole of the summer, there were flood
alerts along rivers and chaos on the roads.
But the Mail reported, accompanied by a photograph,
the most dramatic casualty of the weather so far was the recently restored 19th
century post mill in Chillenden, Kent, which was flattened by 40mph winds.
Ian printed out the mill's information from the
Windmills in Kent website. It was built in 1868 and worked regularly until 1949
when a gale felled one of its sweeps. 'Further deterioration took place while
it was idle and by 1955 it was in a poor condition. The mill was taken over by
Kent County Council and a holding operation was undertaken in 1960 to protect
it prior to full restoration. This included the renewal of the tail pole, steps
and brick piers supporting the crosstrees. The missing sweep was replaced while
the three remaining were repaired, as was the weatherboarding. They removed
most of the machinery and demolished the ancillary buildings. In 1988 the mill
was again in a sorry state and with much of the timber rotten. A full
restoration project was undertaken to put the mill back into its original
state. It is now fixed in position with dummy shutters. It is open to the
public on summer Sundays.' I wonder if
it will be viable to restore it yet again?
Shieldhall -- Angela Smith
Your reporter attended the half-yearly meeting of the
Solent Steam Packet Ltd on board Shieldhall in November. Chairman Barry Eagles
reported a good year with more passengers carried, but that the ship needs more
than just sailings to keep funds rolling in. Film contracts are few and far
between but are a bonus. Also more sponsors need to be recruited. A Grand Draw
with 10,000 tickets will be held in 2004: donations of prizes are appealed for
- you can't have a raffle without prizes! A membership drive is also under way
with membership forms included in the Winter issue of the journal Shieldhall
Matters.
Graham Mackenzie, managing director of the Trading
Company, said that it had raised £6500 to pass on to the charity. Reporting on
sailings this year, six were fully booked, one carried only 32, but the average
passenger number was over 100. The ship is licensed to carry 150. Over the year
2000+ passengers were carried, with the Santa Cruises still to come in December.
The trip to Newhaven in May was a great success and there are plans to return
in 2005, but the 12 days in Weymouth and Poole in August were 'quiet'. A joint
venture with Daylight Railtours, using West Country class loco Taw Valley from
the Mid-hants Railway to take passengers to Weymouth for a trip out on
Shieldhall, was almost scuppered by Railtrack imposing a ban on mainline steam
due to lineside fires in the dry weather, but the passengers who opted to be
pulled by a heritage diesel instead enjoyed their day out. There may be similar
joint ventures in 2004.
Future Shieldhall sailings include the arrival of
Queen Mary 2 on (provisionally) Boxing Day and her departure on January 12th
(both fully booked). In the 2004 programme, on May 1st the QE2 and QM2 will
arrive in tandem to mark QE2s last transatlantic voyage. They are due to dock
about 7am, so this will be a very early start for Shieldhall! May 14 -16 will
be in Dordrecht for the Steam Festival: the Trust is hoping to run a coach to
Holland for members. An evening jazz cruise is planned for June 4th and, on the
5th, QM2 and QE2 depart simultaneously. On 6th June Shieldhall will join the
D-Day flotilla from Portsmouth. The programme for 2004 has yet to be finalised
but Shieldhall members will receive news in the journal, or contact the
website.
The rubbing strake appeal (to which HIAS has
subscribed) is still open, with only about £3,000 raised so far. £15,000 is
needed for matching funds from the HLF, but around half of that will be in volunteer
labour, so a further £3,500 still needs to be found. The approved quote is just
over £60 000 for the supply of extruded black composite rubber section to their
own design, matching the existing wooden shape. It will come in sections of
2.5m which each weigh 200kg (75 are needed), and an appeal for the loan of a
fork lift truck has been made to unload the truck when it arrives. The work
will take place in January/February after the QM2 sailing. Scaffolding will be
suspended over the ship's sides, which will take about 3 weeks, then the ship
will be towed to 110 berth (near the KGV dry dock) for fitting the rubbing
strake, which should take about 4 weeks.
(www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk)
Tram 57 Project -- Angela and Nigel Smith
The events of the past six months will rank as a
defining period for the outcome of the project. There has been increasing
activity on the Southampton Heritage Federation front as plans to include the trams
developed as a key element of the overall scheme. Councillor Peter Wakeford,
Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism & Arts on Southampton City Council,
made a visit in late July to see the artefacts at Millbrook and judge progress
to date. The City of Southampton Society, loyal supporters of the tram project,
visited on July 12th - a day that has other, less happy, memories.
But brighter things first. Our annual open day on
August Bank Holiday Sunday was one of our most successful ever, blessed again
with fine weather and some really fine visiting buses from the rally in
Mayflower Park. Attendance and takings were at near record numbers, but the
event was tinged with sadness as we all knew it would be our last event at
Millbrook.
After 24 years in the Transco warehouse, on July 12th
we were given a month's notice to vacate the site. New regulations concerning
insurance cover on asbestos-clad buildings which comes into force in April 04
convinced Transco to demolish the
building, as well as the need to re-locate staff from another site. John Horne
negotiated an extra 2 months, so we had a deadline of October 3rd to clear the
building of all we had amassed over those 24 years
As the trams are owned by City Heritage and have
received Science Museum grants, they have to be given priority for undercover
storage. Frantic efforts by group members and the City to find alternative
accommodation followed, but there was nothing suitable at an affordable price
within our reach. In fact, after two months of effort and a potential building
having been located in Southampton Docks, which was visited on September 1st,
negotiations are still continuing.
The end result is that the collection has mostly been dispersed to council-owned properties within the city after a mammoth moving session over two weeks during the latter half of September. Unfortunately, whilst the trams and artefacts are under cover for the present, they are not in accommodation that is suitable for restoration work to continue or where the volunteers even have access to check that all is well. Although the 3 trams are stored in secure City Heritage properties, the majority of our stores, benches, machinery (including electrical), cupboards, original tram parts and some restored items are in 2 arches under Central Bridge which were damp even