Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Society

FOCUS on Industrial Archaeology No. 75,

December, 2010

Calshot Spit Light Vessel (LV78) makes its move from Ocean Village in Southampton

A Visit to Pennington Saltworks

Transport Trust 'Red Wheel' unveilings in Hampshire

Scottish Gleanings

Dawes Twineworks Ropewalk

Meetings Reports 2010

See Past Meetings page

Conference

Reports

Aeronautica launch

Twyford Waterworks Trust

Maritime

Miscellanea

Book Reviews

Tail-enders

Calshot Spit Light Vessel (LV 78) makes its move from Ocean Village in Southampton

Angela Smith

After many postponements since April  – and a final delay from October 25th to the following week – LV78 was unloaded at its temporary home by Berth 49 in Southampton’s Eastern Docks just after midday on November 4th.

The original plan was that the two 500-ton Baldwins’ cranes would be ready on the evening of the 2nd to start the lift early on the 3rd, to inconvenience the users of Ocean Village as little as possible. But a last-minute delay on the evening of the 2nd due to the poor light meant that the cranes were rigged in the morning – taking about 1½ hours each – and the ‘lift’ took place about 12.45 onto a very long, 16-axled, transporter from Leicester Heavy Haulage. After a slow move along Ocean Way and into the docks, the transporter reached an overnight stop just short of the new Ocean Terminal at around 4pm.

The initial site work had been undertaken by Dive Technologies from Weymouth who had also constructed the cradle onto which the vessel was lowered and on which it now sits at the new site. The three companies, plus vehicles and staff from South West Crane Hire, must be congratulated for the almost flawless task, the only minor hitch being a trapped strop which caused a delay of about an hour while wedges were inserted between the vessel and the cradle.

Jeff Pain, Nigel and I were on traffic marshalling duties from 7am, along with local historian John Avery (who has spoken at HIAS meetings) who came along to see what was happening and was soon issued with a hi-viz vest! Marshals, including Solent Sky volunteers, were given a thorough briefing the previous evening which also involved a ‘walk-through’ of the route. HIAS members Margaret and John Jones visited to see the action, and Rob Fish came along twice from duty at the Schools Skills Festival in the Western Docks.

Radio Solent’s Lucy Morgan made two visits to broadcast ‘live’ on the 3rd, Ben Moore from BBC-TV South attended with a film crew and there were reporters from the Southern Daily Echo and Yachting Monthly.

It was a poignant operation for Baldwins’ crane supervisor ‘Bev’ Hitchcock as he had been one of the crane drivers when the lightship was lifted out in January 1989, and he was retiring on November 4th.

The vessel will now have to be thoroughly assessed and funds raised for restoration work. It has no dedicated ‘group’ as such and has a high-profile position alongside the Ocean Terminal.          

Transport Trust ‘Red Wheel’ unveilings in Hampshire

Angela Smith

On Wednesday 14th July – a rather overcast, chilly and blustery day with occasional showers – two Transport Trust ‘Red Wheel’ plaques were unveiled on Hampshire’s Waterside by the Hon Sir William McAlpine Bt, President of the Transport Trust. The locations – at Hythe Pier and Calshot – were “on our doorstep” so to speak, as our home in Blackfield is roughly halfway between the two. Many TT members had travelled long distances to attend the ceremonies. The event was organised by TT Council Member Ian Horner from Dibden Purlieu.

Most of the TT members attending the event took advantage of a return sailing on the Hotspur IV from Hythe to Southampton and a ride on the train before gathering at the entrance building for tea and biscuits. The train actually made two trips to pick up the ferry passengers and the guest of honour, Sir William McAlpine, returned on the second one.

Peter Stone, a TT Council Member who is involved in the Red Wheel project, outlined the Project’s aims and then invited Peter Lay, another director of White Horse Ferries, to relate the history of the pier, ferry and railway. Sir William then unveiled the plaque.

Everyone then drove to Calshot Activities Centre and assembled in the ‘Kinkead Room’ for a cold buffet lunch. The unveiling ceremony outside the main entrance to the Sunderland hangar commenced at 1.45pm when the Director of the Activities Centre, Phil Quill, spoke about the conversion from the former Naval Air Station and local resident and aviation historian Colin van Geffen outlined its aviation history. After Sir William unveiled the plaque, members were free to explore the site and Calshot Castle. Nigel and I took the opportunity of having a long chat with Peter Stone about the Transport Trust and possible Red Wheel sites in Hampshire.

The Transport Trust’s Red Wheel Scheme

The two Red Wheel plaques which were unveiled on Hampshire’s Waterside brings the county’s sites to three, with the Hovercraft Museum at Lee-on-Solent having been presented with the first plaque in the county in May. The Transport Trust has a website, www.transportheritage.com , where nominated sites can be viewed.

Ian Horner, a Council Member from the Transport Trust, addressed the HIAS meeting in August asking not only for nominations of sites in Hampshire, but also the details that go with them. Keith Andrews supplied some splendid paperwork to support the Winchester Bus Station, which was being considered until very recently when it was discovered that the site is now going to be cleared.

Only you know the details for any site which you would like to propose. As long as it has something to do with transport and is relatively old, it could be eligible. Ian Horner can be contacted at his email address of ian.horner@transporttrust.com or telephone (023) 8084 2223. His home address is ‘Sunnyside’, North Road, Dibden Purlieu, Southampton, SO45 4RE. Don’t leave it to “someone else will do it” – that someone else may be too busy with something else to have the time to do the research!

A visit to the Pennington saltworks 

Angela Smith

Back in 2001 Lymington historian Jude James talked at one of the last SUIAG meetings (when we were still at the University) on The Salt Industry of Lymington & Surrounding Areas. Unfortunately I was on holiday at that time, as I’m sure the information would have been useful when Nigel and I joined a small party for a guided walk at the former salt works at Pennington marshes in July.

The New Forest National Park Authority and Wessex Archaeology had organised an archaeological excavation to establish the size and scale of a typical salt working site where the country’s last two remaining sea salt boiling houses are to be found. These are Grade II listed, and a planning application had been submitted to convert them into an office and storage space. The ‘dig’ was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage with support from Hampshire County Council, ExxonMobil and The Crown Estate. The excavation was being carried out by volunteers overseen by the professionals who were apparently working without pay in their ‘spare time’. It also coincided with the celebrations for the Festival of British Archaeology which started on July 19th.

The New Forest Park Authority’s archaeologist Frank Green – who will be speaking to HIAS members in July on New Forest archaeology – was in charge of the operation but, sadly, unwell on the day of our visit.

We were met by archaeologist Tom Dommett who first explained the history behind the salt pans and what the reasons were for the investigation. He said that the height of the salt industry was between 1790 and 1820, but Iron and Bronze Age salt workings had been discovered at nearby Efford. Tom, and his assistant Karl Macrow who was working with the NFPA for six months, led us round the perimeter of the former salt pans, pointing out various remains including what is now a narrow channel, but was once a canal leading to Maiden Dock for barges, and mounds that we were told once supported windmills which pumped out the water from the salt pans.

We finally reached the two buildings where site manager Steve explained what the archaeologists were looking for. An area alongside one of the buildings was being excavated where a coal store once stood: this fell down in the 1960s. It is planned to build a toilet block here for the proposed tourist information centre, so had to be thoroughly checked for any remains. Early maps (one was 1698) showed larger buildings, so other areas behind the two buildings (see photo) were being excavated to check if this was correct. Sherds of Verwood pottery (post-medieval) had been found and brick foundations were being uncovered. These seem to have been connected to the truncated building in the right of the photo.

An article in the autumn edition of the NFDC magazine quotes Frank Green as saying that deposits from the boiling process were unearthed, which proved that these were salt boiling houses and not just used for salt storage. It is thought the area where the buildings are located was once a lagoon and the raised trackway leading from the buildings to Lymington was possibly a medieval sea wall. Overall, an extremely interesting morning and I look forward to hearing more about the results.

Scottish Gleanings

Roger Hedge

Wendy and I have just (October 2010) returned from our annual visit to the Lothians. As usual, I summarise some of what I stumbled upon. Although aware of Scotland’s contribution to the Industrial Revolution in a general sense, I never cease to be astonished as I discover details of the specifics. The following comes from visits to Summerlee Museum, on the site of the Coatbridge Steel Works, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the West Lothian Local History Library.

I’m not informed of the charter for the Science Museum in London but wonder if Scotland can be said to have founded IA. When the National Museum of Scotland was founded, in 1852, as the Industrial Museum of Scotland, its stated purpose included :

“ . . . collecting manufactured products and objects of decorative art, from around the world to educate craftsmen and designers in Scotland”

Glasgow-born James Young [James “Paraffin” Young] revolutionised candle supplies. Tallow candles were smoky and smelt of the base animal fats. He set up a works in Bathgate, nearer to Livingston than Glasgow. This works originally processed coal-oil but he devised and patented ways of refining mineral oil to provide a range of materials, including pure white paraffin wax, which burnt brightly, with no smell or smoke.

This wax was essential to the provision of the modern candle. He made a further advance based on the extraction of shale oil at his mammoth Addiewell shale works, near West Calder, a stone’s throw from Livingston. He then went on to found a candle factory there, even while supplying wax to Price’s Patent Candle Company of London. His production rose to 100 million candles per year. It took 100 tons of shale, mined from underground, to produce 10 tons of shale-oil, yielding merely 1 ton of paraffin wax.

Addiewell candle factory closed in 1923 and production was moved to nearby Broxburn. Candles continued to be exported worldwide from there. Supplies to London during the blitz of WW2 were crucial. Post-war power cuts sustained demand but, by 1949, production was down to 50 tons per week, with the plant shutting in 1956. However, much of Britain’s paraffin wax continued to be provided by Scotland’s shale-oil industry until final closure in 1962.

With the size of the shale mines, it is no surprise to learn that gunpowder manufacture also loomed large in the locality of West Lothian, including Broxburn. Shale is a hard mineral not easily worked with picks, unlike coal. Nevertheless, during a coal-miners’ strike in 1921, this works was temporarily shut for lack of a market. It was reported as . . . “being guarded by the military”.

Despite the hazardous nature of this business, in a report on the 1909 “Explosion at West Calder Gunpowder Factory” [West Lothian Courier, 18 June 1909], it was stated that . . . “The works had enjoyed a remarkable immunity from loss of life and it is almost fifteen years since any of the workmen were injured”. One amusing upshot of this explosion was the emergence of a column of water in the village of Hermand, shooting some six feet into the air. It transpired that the pipe carrying the water supply to West Calder had been fractured by the explosion.

Another startling insight is that gunpowder was sold over the counter in local Co-operative stores! Miners had to purchase their own powder and from 1 to 2 pounds at a time would be carried home in a bag and “often as not stored under the bed”! The miner’s wife customarily filled her husband’s powder tin each day before he went to work.

Turning to lessons from Summerlee, my ignorance was first enlightened over the provision of fire bricks from Glenboig. It turns out the finest fire clay in the world existed there, an echo of the China Clay of St Austell. So renowned was the quality of these bricks that furnaces across the world, even as far afield as Australia, were built using bricks from Glenboig.

Another staggering perspective is to realise that the Gartsherrie Iron [later Steel] Works, right by the side of the later Coatbridge Works, was so advanced that, with 16 Bessemer furnaces, it was the largest such works in the world. Memory suggests it produced some 40% of the world‘s output at one time.

A final note is to record that the area around Summerlee is now an archaeological dig, to restore our picture of Coatbridge by excavating the Mill foundations, once buried as part of the reclamation of the site!

Dawes Twineworks Ropewalk

Eleanor Yates

The Coker Rope & Sail Trust was given a grant earlier this year (largely from South Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council) which allowed them to erect £40,000 of scaffolding at the Dawes Twineworks ropewalk. The ropewalk, Grade 2*, was the regional runner-up in the BBC Restoration programme in 2006 and, because of rot in its woodwork, has been supported by scaffolding and chains tied to trees. The weight of the roof-tiles has meant that the building, one hundred yards long, was both leaning and subsiding and the new scaffolding was to help the volunteers from the Trust, the Carpenters’ Fellowship and other supporters gradually restore its original height and make it vertical.

This is a two-storey building, the upper being where the twine was wound and the lower open-sided to finish off the rope. The workers would have walked about 12 miles a day from one end of the building to the other, so it was not possible to cross-brace the ground floor for stability. It is thought that the inner vertical wooden posts were sunk into the ground while the outer ones were rested on stone or slate cushions. Once the inner posts rotted the whole building became unstable. Apparently it won‘t be possible to get more Baltic Pine to replace what has rotted, so a suitable substitute has to be found.

The volunteers started to put up the scaffolding in January and the final Acrow props on Saturday March 27th and, after a trial on Tuesday 30th decided on the best method of ‘winding up’ the roof starting at one end and finishing on Thursday 1st April at the other. Only one roof tile was broken!

Good Friday 2nd April saw a very successful ‘open day’ with interested locals and members of HIAS walking easily under the roof, now two feet higher!

Meetings

See Past Meetings page

Association for Industrial Archaeology Annual Conference 2010

AIA Conference at University College, Falmouth, 3-9 September 2010

Rodney Hall

The AIA Annual Conference this year was held in Cornwall at the Tremough Campus, of University College, Falmouth, between September 3rd and 9th. As usual the conference opened on Friday evening with the formal welcoming by the Chairmen of AIA and of the local organising society, the Trevithick Society. A brief history of the Trevithick Society followed. It is the oldest industrial conservation society in the country, formed in 1935 to save the beam engine at Levant Mine from destruction. Known initially as the Cornish Engines Preservation Committee, other engines followed until the properties were gifted later to the National Trust. Merged with the Cornish Waterwheel Society in 1971, the name ‘Trevithick Society’ was adopted and the Society is still very active in a conservation and advisory role.

Dolcoath Mine at Camborne was one of the richest, deepest, famous and most important metal mines in Cornwall. Many well-known names in Cornish mining either worked there or were associated with it. Early output was tin, it later produced a significant proportion of Cornwall’s output of copper ore before finally again being a major tin mine. Closed in 1930, the sett was later worked by South Crofty and is in the latest proposals to again mine for metals in Cornwall.

Saturday morning started with a review of the Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick. A brief run through the history of steam before 1800 set Trevithick’s achievements in perspective. The problems of reduction in size and weight necessary to allow self-propulsion, having to force water into the boiler, and the engineering needed to prevent leaks in boiler and pipe-work were highlighted. Finally the building of the replica for the bi-centenary of the 1801 Puffing Devil, Trevithick’s first road locomotive, was described. Cornwall had a very early canal. Carnclaze is an ancient tin streaming site and later a china clay pit. Leats were constructed to bring water to the upland site and tunnels at two levels dug to access the bottom of the clay pit. Tunnels and leat were made large enough to take tub boats, of which records remain, but little can be traced on the ground today.

After a break for coffee, and a visit to society stands and poster boards, came a lively explanation as to why there are so many Methodist chapels to be found in Cornwall. The close link between the number of working miners and the rise and decline of Methodism in Cornwall was described along with the schisms within the denomination leading to each sect having their own chapels.

Members’ contributions followed lunch. A hectic few days with television’s Time Team excavation at the Derwentcote cementation furnace was described, aiming to discover further structures and artefacts around and associated with the furnace which is a scheduled monument. Remains of a crucible furnace, a forge, workers’ housing and evidence of a charcoal furnace and rolling mill were found. Another contribution was of ‘holiday snaps’ of many sites of IA interest in Australia. Updates of the AIA Restoration grants from 2009 were presented and details of the 2010 grants given. Before steam power came to Cornwall, water power was used widely and some of the sites where waterwheels either existed or were still extant were seen. A visit to the island of Steepholm in the Bristol Channel and the industrial remains to be found there followed.

The latter part of the afternoon was given over to the AIA Awards but this year HIAS again did not feature among the winners. The meeting then heard some of the award winners talking about the work that merited their award. As usual, award certificates were formally presented to the winners by the AIA President after the formal dinner in the evening. The Cape Cornwall Singers male voice choir rounded off the day by singing Cornish, and other, ballads unaccompanied (except by pints from the bar).

The AGM of the AIA was first on the agenda for Sunday with nothing exceptional of note. Details of overseas visits in 2011 to Sweden and possibly South Australia and New Zealand followed. 2010 is the centenary of the birth of L.T.C. Rolt, the writer and pioneer industrial archaeologist who did much to establish interest in Britain‘s industrial past and the formation of the AIA. Thus instead of the normal Rolt Memorial Lecture, recollections of Tom Rolt were given by people from several branches of industrial archaeology who knew him. A small exhibition of photographs of Tom’s life had been compiled and was set up among the Society stands and bookstalls, and Tom’s widow was in the audience.

On Sunday evening after field trips and dinner, a very knowledgeable talk on the china clay industry of Cornwall was given. China clay, or kaolin, is the decomposed feldspar constituent in granite, the mica and quartz being unaffected. The rise and retrenchment of the industry was followed and the methods of winning the clay and treatment with changing technology were explained. Uses, transport and export were also covered. Following a formal welcome at County Hall, Truro, on Monday evening a talk was given by a member of the committee who prepared the bid which resulted in UNESCO recognising the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscapes as a World Heritage Site in 2006. Unusually, the designation is not confined to buildings on one site but is composed of whole landscapes, each illustrating different aspects of Cornwall‘s mining industry and portraying the impact mining had not only on the county but by emigration, the leading part played by Cornish people in mining throughout the world. Being landscapes and ten sites meant very complex negotiations with landowners,

One of the largest land owners in the World Heritage sites is the National Trust and, on Tuesday evening, the work of the Trust in West Cornwall was explained. Problems encountered in the management of some sites and ‘green’ solutions to them were outlined. Conservation and consolidation work on mining structures in Trust ownership in West Penwith were described including the restoration of the tunnel from the dries to the man-engine shaft at Levant mine. Finally the little known Naval steam trials of 1831 and HM steam vessel Echo was told. The Royal Navy was reluctant to use steam propulsion for its ships, let alone at high pressure. HMS Echo was an insignificant support vessel and suitable for experimentation. Some well-known names in early steam engineering were involved. For various reasons some trials were inconclusive but eventually, of course, the Navy became a steam navy.

A comprehensive booklet on the 12 field trips had been compiled and each trip was led by members of the Trevithick Society. For delegates arriving early on Friday afternoon a trip round the Harbour at Falmouth had been organised to view some of the facilities there. Three field trips were organised for Sunday afternoon. For one tour, after viewing the now empty china clay harbour at Par, the coach travelled to Fowey along the private road linking the two ports which was converted from a railway line and includes a tunnel. No ships were alongside the wharves at Fowey but the clay handling berths and the terminus of the freight-only railway line from Lostwithiel were inspected. Another group donned helmet and lamp to take a trip through the small Rosevale tin mine near Zennor. Entering along an adit, features of interest were explained along the way. Vertical ladders up the narrow lode were climbed to emerge at a higher level on the hillside. A visit to the fascinating Wayside Museum nearby rounded off the afternoon. Thirdly a trip to the preserved Cornish beam engines at Pool could be made. Saved originally by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society and now in the care of the National Trust; Mitchell‘s whim, Taylor‘s Shaft and Robinson’s shaft pumping engines were visited.

Tin mining occupied one group on Monday. The King Edward Mine was established to provide a practical teaching site for the Camborne School of Mines. Changes in the 1980s and ‘90s led to the buildings being made into a new museum of mining history. The importance of the site is the different types of tin ore processing equipment from circa 1900 which have been reconstructed. Californian stamps, a round frame, buddles, a sand table, a Frue vanner and rag frames were all seen operating. In the afternoon (in the rain!) the remains of the mine buildings at Marriott’s shaft were visited, where parts of engine, boiler, compressor and winding engine houses remain, together with a “miner‘s dry”, complete with elegant Norman-style arches. West Basset stamps nearby was included, where the stamping engine house survives. Lower down the slope were the remains of vanner, buddle and calciner houses, all part of the treatment processes for tin ore.

The town of Hayle was wet, very wet! Nevertheless as good industrial archaeologist’s sites associated with the mining engineers Harvey’s of Hayle were seen, their shipping wharves, timber sheds and foundries, some demolished and others partially intact and restored. At Poldark mine, old mine workings have been re-opened and after a tour of surface artefacts down in the stopes we were assured that the water we were paddling through was at least two days old, it taking that length of time to percolate through the ground.

Weather on Tuesday was better. One party travelled to West Penwith again, this time to Porthcurno. At one time it was the largest cable station in the world and a centre for communication with the British Empire. A total of 14 undersea telegraph cables came ashore in this remote cove linking all parts of the world. Tunnels dug for protection of equipment and personnel in WWII have been turned into a museum of undersea telegraphy since the site ceased being used as a training establishment. After a quick visit to the beach to view the hut where the cables came ashore, and lunch, it was off to Newlyn. Still a major fishing harbour, a quick walk through the fish market, empty at this time of day, was followed by excursions along two quays with knowledgeable guides to view vessels alongside. The other group saw Wheal Peevor tin mine which has pumping, winding and stamps engine houses in a group and exploration of this ‘conserved’ site found numerous information boards. Rain greeted us again at Bodmin but rides on the ex-GWR heritage railway there in two directions meant we generally stayed dry, though in true ‘real railway’ style, the buffet car was not open due to staff shortage.

On Wednesday morning one tour was of sites linked to china clay production. Littlejohn’s pit has its origins in the 1840s, with seven smaller pits amalgamated into one large one. Here high pressure water jets are used to wash clay, sand and mica from the walls of the pit. The resultant slurry is pumped to treatment works for further processing. Passing through the clay country, with the distinctive conical “sky tips” of waste sand we reached the Meledor dry extraction site. Here the basic rock is dug dry and transported by 70-ton dump trucks to a central site, where separation and processing takes place. Customers in the paper, ceramic and other industries demand high specifications for their clays, and further processing is required to satisfy their different needs. At the new Rocks drying plant, a new process is used to force water out of the clay to dry it. At Parkandillack, volunteers, supported by English China Clays, have restored a Cornish engine built in 1852 by Sandys, Vivian & Co, at Hayle, and first installed at Wheal Kitty Mine, near St Agnes. In 1912 it was moved to its present site, where it pumped china clay slurry until 1953. The engine now works on compressed air and we found the blackberries around the engine house were delicious!

The other group first had a brief stop in St Just to look round the town centre and parish church.  Then it was to the former count house at Botallack Mine and an exhibition in a one-time stable annexe. A guided tour of the ore dressing floors and calciner followed, culminating with close inspection of possibly the most well-known of West Penwith’s mines, Botallack Crowns, perched on ledges below the cliffs. A very comprehensive tour of Geevor’s main surface buildings followed, including several parts not on the normal public trail. A quick run through a section of the underground workings showed us the conditions under which the miners worked. Walking along the cliff top path revealed other mining infrastructures covering a 200 year-old span and then the highlight for many, the Levant Mine winding engine running under steam. A climb down the spiral stone steps and through a tunnel brought us to the top of the man-riding shaft, scene of the 1919 disaster when the riding rods collapsed.

Thursday found the harbour at the former clay port of Pentewan is still in water but sand has now blocked the entrance. A narrow gauge railway once connected to St Austell and the remains of this and rails from subsequent activity making concrete blocks from the sand were viewed, as was the village. St Austell Brewery is a family-owned traditional brewery and a tour round the brewery ended with a tasting session of some of their brews.

Charlestown harbour is largely unchanged since 1791-1801 when it was built. The original export cargo was copper ore but china clay came to dominate. Loading chutes tipped clay directly into waiting vessels while the other quay was used for imports of coal and timber and there was also a shipyard, ropewalk, lime kiln and a foundry. Commercial traffic and industry has now ceased and the dock is now a home for a collection of tall ships often used for filming. Charlestown is also home to the Shipwreck and Heritage Centre which displays a fine collection of artefacts and relics and was certainly worth the visit.

Grateful thanks to members of the Trevithick Society for the great field trips and other conference participants for some trip reports. The 2011 Conference will be at Cork in the Republic of Ireland.

Reports

Aeronautica launch, Southampton, Monday 14th June 2010                                                     Nigel Smith

The opening activities took place in the Solent Sky museum where guests and members of the Southampton Heritage Federation were able to see the displays for the proposed heritage museum based at the Trafalgar Dry Dock. John Clark, Chairman of Aeronautica’s Board of Directors, outlined the plans for the site, Sqn Ldr Alan Jones thanked those who had helped so far and Cllr John Hannides wished the project success. All the guests were then taken to the dock on 3 heritage buses for an inspection of the site, a plaque was unveiled beside the dry dock by Dunkirk veteran Lionel Tucker, followed by a great Spitfire display. Guests were then given the opportunity to proceed to the new Ocean Terminal for tea and cakes and to watch the departure of the Queen Mary 2.

Following the siting of the Calshot Spit lightship in November, the next step in the heritage area at Trafalgar Dry Dock will be the erection of a workshop to house the three Southampton trams currently in store at two locations in Southampton, plus an, as yet unspecified, Dunkirk Little Ship. This building will be sited on the former ferry linkspan site between the caisson basin and the quayside and will be very visible to anyone using the Hythe ferry (or on a cruise ship).

Twyford Waterworks Trust                                                                                                           Ian Harden

It seems far longer ago than 1996 that the Twyford Waterworks Trust first successfully returned number 3 boiler to steam but a repeat moved a significant step closer in the summer with a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and an award of a £63,300 grant which will allow the restoration of one of its unique Babcock & Wilcox boilers and the Hathorn Davey triple expansion pumping engine back to full working order.

This award will allow the Trust to fully evaluate the work required to restore the set of three boilers and the engine along with other improvements to the site including visitor and educational facilities and a new workshop. The Trust plans to complete this development phase by mid 2011, after which a further grant application will be submitted towards the final cost of the project.

Twyford possesses one of the most complete Boiler Houses left in terms of its equipment, and is unique in having a rank of three Babcock & Wilcox WIF water tube boilers. Of these, one will be returned to steam, one will be cosmetically restored and the third will form a sectioned backdrop to a new education area, with interpretive displays explaining a range of subjects from how things work through to life and conditions at the Waterworks in Edwardian times.

As a reminder, the Boiler House itself gives a great insight into Edwardian technology as it contains two sets of steam boiler feed pumps, a steam air compressor and a steam driven d.c. generator. The plan is to restore all of this back to original condition together with the Hathorn Davey engine of 1914 in the adjacent engine house, so that visitors will be able to witness at first hand the ‘high tech’ facilities a century ago.

Passing on skills and training to new volunteers is something that every heritage centre has to take seriously and the plan for Twyford is to build a new workshop specifically for this. Twyford is completely voluntary with a small number of volunteers but is fortunate to have some highly skilled people within its ranks and it is intended to spread this expertise and pass it on to new generations, thereby keeping the site alive for many years to come.

Without HLF support the restoration of steam operation could scarcely have been seriously considered. The Trust also needs to raise money for this project and the ongoing ‘Buy a brick / boiler tube’ campaign, planned to generate £45,000 has in six months realised over £6,500. The contributions already made from HIAS and individual members are gratefully acknowledged. Details of the appeal can be found in the News section of the TWT website at www.twyfordwaterworks.co.uk

Open Days in 2011

April 24th: Easter Sunday Guided Tour Day; May 1st: Spring Rally; June 5th: Industrial Railway and Communications Day; July 3rd: Miniature Steam & Models Open Day

HIAS trip to Brooklands, Sunday 10th October 2010                                                          Carol Burdekin

About 16 of us went on the community bus, driven by Andy Fish, to Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey on Sunday 10th October. After an early start, we arrived at Brooklands before ten and, after a welcome cup of coffee, were ready to spend the rest of the day looking at a wide variety of exhibits relating to Brooklands’ motoring and aviation past. Brooklands was purpose-built in 1907 by a wealthy landowner, Hugh Locke King, and is the birthplace of British Motorsport and Aviation. One of its latest acquisitions is a Concorde aircraft [Delta Golf] “which was the first British production Concorde and the first aircraft ever to carry 100 passengers at twice the speed of sound”. For those of us who had never flown on Concorde, we can now say we have been on one, even though it never left the ground!

The Morgan Car Club enthusiasts were out in force for a get-together that Sunday, and we watched them take turns in going up “Test Hill” constructed in 1909 for braking and acceleration tests. There was so much to see and, starting from the 1907 Clubhouse which included the “Barbara Cartland Room” and a members’ Billiard Room, we looked at racing cars, aeroplanes including a Wellington Bomber, racing motorcycles, bicycles including early pennyfarthings, the Raleigh Display and the Malcolm Campbell shed, which was his workshop. We also saw the huge Napier-Railton 24 litre engine sports car in action when it was driven a short distance. For those of you who have not been to Brooklands, it is well worth a visit and is open all year round. We finally left at 5pm after a very enjoyable and full day accompanied by excellent weather.

Maritime     Angela Smith

S.S.Shieldhall 

Visit the website at www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk  to check up-to-date information on sailing dates in 2011.

P.S. Ryde

I have been unable to find any website updates on the paddle steamer since May. ‘Dickyboy’ took a short video and some stills in June and posted these on You Tube. This shows a fence surrounding the site and a small crane from a Ventnor demolition firm alongside the vessel, which looks in a very sorry state. Another website said that they’d read the final stay of scrapping was August. I have made contact with members of the Isle of Wight IA Society but nothing appears to have happened. The adminstrators are still trying to find a buyer for the site and “all sorts of rumours persist as to the next step”.

City of Adelaide / Carrick

As reported last December and in June this year, the once proud clipper ship City of Adelaide has been languishing on a slipway in Irvine, Scotland, with the threat of ‘deconstruction’ hanging over it after the Scottish Maritime Museum could no longer fund any restoration. For the benefit of new members, this 1864 Sunderland-built clipper was used as a ‘fever ship’, moored off Millbrook Point in Southampton, from 1893 to 1923. Sold to the Royal Navy as a drill ship, she was renamed HMS Carrick.

Both the city of Sunderland and Adelaide (Australia) had mounted fund-raising appeals to try to save the vessel. The latter’s website included a ‘Deconstruction Advice’ notice from April 6th 2009 where a plan by the Scottish Maritime Museum Trustees revealed that they intended to retain small sections of hull at bow and stern to display in the museum. This included a rudder manufactured in Adelaide.

A trawl through various websites for recent information drew a blank until I thought of trying a local Irvine newspaper, in this case the Irvine Herald. A brief item from August 28th explained that the bid from Sunderland had been rejected as the Scottish Government said it lacked practical detail, so the Adelaide proposal was accepted.

Coming on to November 12th, the Australian team was “this week granted planning permission to remove the vessel from Irvine. North Ayrshire Council gave the green light on the condition that the Aussies provide a written statement detailing how the work will be carried out and give guarantees on future plans for conservation, restoration and display. Applicant Peter Roberts of the ‘Clipper Ship City of Adelaide’ group was told the reasons for the conditions was to ensure the development followed the original plans. The Australians intend to preserve the ship and have it on display for the 175th anniversary of South Australian settement next year.”

Apparently the Duke of Edinburgh had spoken about the ship on a BBC interview in July, saying that “there was a hideous problem with the City of Adelaide”. He had hosted a day conference 10 years ago in Glasgow to discuss the future of the vessel.

Miscellanea

Museums join forces in fight for funding

Hampshire County Council, Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester City Councils, the Mary Rose Trust and the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu are forming the Hampshire and Solent Museum Alliance in a bid to win more Government cash amid fears over future funding. There could be benefits such as shared collections and expertise as well as new funding opportunities. The Culture Minister announced major changes in the way Renaissance funding – Government cash for museums – will be distributed in the future. This will now go to core museums with outstanding collections.

Hampshire County Council, in looking at ways to save 20% of its museum budget in anticipation of Government cuts, is axing 36 museum service jobs. Bursledon Windmill and Rockbourne Roman Villa near Fordingbridge will have funding for temporary staff only after next April and lose the equivalent of two full-time posts. The longer-term plan is to develop volunteer teams to help keep them open.

HLF brings in new measures to help applicants in tough times

The Heritage Lottery Fund’s Board of Trustees has agreed some further changes to its procedures in response to the economic challenges facing potential and current applicants. There will be more money on offer for applicants who are finding it hard to raise funds elsewhere and new ways of protecting HLF’s past investment. With effect from the day of the announcement, November 4th, changes such as reduced match funding requirements (only 10% will be required for grants over £1m and 5% for under £1m), management and maintenance costs included in match funding and more accessible grant increases were announced. In August other changes to help support major grants over £5m had been announced, increasing allocation from £20m to £30m. (HLF press release 04/11/10 – www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/  )

Scheepsdale Bridge, Brugge

Adriaan Linters from VVIA in Belgium has written to report on the sad fate of this historic bridge in Bruges which was featured in Focus last December. He says:-

“The bridge was destroyed in spite of all efforts by VVIA and local heritage associations – and the hundreds of protest mails which were sent from all over the world to the public authorities in charge of public works and historic heritage, the Bruges city council, and the province. These all refused to move . . .

VVIA, together with the Brugge heritage forum, managed to buy a small part of the bridge, some 9 tons of steel. This part is now in a safe place, and is offered to public authorities (who don’t move) or a private company to transform it into a memorial for the engineer Vierendeel. We are now negotiating with a local developer in Brugge.”

Book Reviews

Wheels of Fire by Alan House

Alan House retired from his job as Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service – a post which he had held for 17 years – at the end of March 2010. He maintains a small museum and archive collection at Service Headquarters in Eastleigh, acting as historian and archivist for the HF&RS. This book – his 19th – took Alan five years to research and write and investigates the period surrounding the Second World War, providing a detailed account of how the fire service operated and developed between 1938 and 1948. Wheels of Fire is A4 size, has 596 pages and 910 photographs, and the cost is £22 (+£5.70 p&p). It can be ordered from Alan House or Carole Hobbs at Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service, Leigh Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9SJ, by emailing carole.hobbs@hantsfire.gov.uk  or calling (023) 8062 6836. Cheques to be made payable to ‘Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’. All proceeds from the sales of Alan’s book will go towards the Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service Heritage Collection.

Fawley and the Southern Waterside by Clare Murley and Graham Parkes     ISBN 978-0-9566855-0-6

Published by Waterside Heritage, this new book can be purchased at The Herald Office in Hythe High Street and the Waterside Heritage Centre in the Old Railway Station in Dominy Close, Hythe (opening times Thursday and Saturday 10.15am to 1pm) at a cost £14.95. Or by post from the Community Centre, Brinton Lane, Hythe, Southampton, SO45 6DU for £17.00 include p&p (payment by cheque, please, made payable to Waterside Heritage). All proceeds go to publishing further books in the series.

This is the first in a planned series of 4 books about the history and development of the Waterside and is based on the original volume of Waterside – a Pictorial Past written in 1991 by Clare and Fred Murley. The new volume covers the parishes of Fawley and Exbury in a greatly extended and completely rewritten form, and now consists of 144 pages of text containing over 200 photographs, drawings and maps. Two of the chapters cover the flying boat station at Calshot. One event was a hush-hush operation in 1942 when a number of Heinkel 115 bombers found their way to Calshot and a small team flew many sorties behind German lines in one of the large floatplanes which had been specially equipped.

Tail-enders

QE2’s anchor finds a home:  A 13-tonne anchor from the Queen Elizabeth 2, which was presented by Cunard to Southampton City Council when the liner left two years ago, has finally been found somewhere for display after gathering dust in a dockside warehouse. It will be placed on the pavement outside Holyrood Church in the High Street, which is a designated memorial to the Merchant Navy.

Conservationists in Lymington have launched a campaign to try to get listed building status for the town’s main railway station, which recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. The brick-built station is one of only two of a kind in the UK designed by the line’s chief engineer, John Birkinshaw, the other being in Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey. The station has already survived one demolition scare.

Hurst Castle Low Light was handed over to English Heritage by Trinity House on June 11th. The 70ft-tall  listed light operated from 1911 to 1997. English Heritage now has the responsibility for maintenance of the light, which has been painted grey to match the castle in order to eliminate any navigational confusion. It was unusual as it enabled its giant light to move laterally and horizontally along the castle walls, warning ships of the hazardous, shifting coastline at Shingles Bank. It was visible to ships for ten miles out to sea. The earliest lighthouse was built in 1733. A high-powered light was installed in the higher tower in 1997.

An airborne survey using lidar (light detection and ranging) has detected a variety of archaeological features, ranging from Iron Age field systems and Bronze Age mounds to anti-glider obstacles, a practice bombing range and a WWII searchlight, in the New Forest National Park. The lidar system can penetrate all but the densest vegetation and reveal features which are difficult to see on the ground, and map.