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Help Sought in Finding a New Home for Historic Crane

Help Sought in Finding a New Home for Historic Crane

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Somerset HER: Nautilus Works, Reckleford, Yeovil. First Erecting Shop of c. 1907 – Second Willcocks & Son Buckfastleigh gantry crane / trolley. HER Image 60244. Photography: Somerset Council, 14 November 2023.

A historic crane in a former engineeering works in Yeovil is in need of a new home. The site owners, First Bus, is preparing to demolish the Nautilus Works, an early 20th century complex built by the Petter family of engineers. The site includes the former erecting shop, engine house, and foundry. However, First Bus has committed to donating salvageable items to organisations with an interest in the historic machinery left within the complex. The main items are a gantry crane made by Willcocks and Son of Buckfastleigh, c. 1907, and a large workbench.

The Petters were internationally renowned for their oil engines for use in agriculture and light engineering, and the site can be said to be the genesis of Westland Aircraft. The Petters responded to government pleas in World War I for firms to help build aircraft and built Short seaplanes on a separate site in the town, known from the start as Westland. In 1933 two Westland biplanes became the first aircraft to fly over Mount Everest.

The crane can be seen, together with a full description of the works on South West Heritage Trust’s website at: https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/32107# Demolition is to take place in the New Year (no precise date known at the time of writing). Any organisation interested in the crane or bench should contact Craig Leake, property projects director First Group at craig.leake@firstgroup.co.uk. Smaller items are expected to go to the South Somerset Heritage Collection. A photograph of the bench may be made available later in the new year.

Any organisation interested in the crane or bench is also asked to let Tina Rowe of the Yeovil Archaeological and Local History (sampepys@btinternet.com), so that the Society knows whether artefacts from this important site have a continuing life.

Somerset HER: Nautilus Works, Reckleford, Yeovil. Offices c. 1909 – Main entrance to Office building on s-e corner facing Reckleford. HER Image 60282. Photograph: Somerset Council, 14 November 2023.
Heritage Open Days 2023 to Feature more than 200 Industrial Heritage Events & Sites

Heritage Open Days 2023 to Feature more than 200 Industrial Heritage Events & Sites

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Blists Hill Ironworks, IGMT, Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge

The annual festival of history and culture, Heritage Open Days, returns this month (September) with the theme of creativity. Founded in 1994, Heritage Open Days sees venues across the country open their doors to visitors for free, with help from volunteers. Coordinated nationally by the National Trust, it is supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Hundreds of activities will adopt this year’s theme, Creativity Unwrapped, as it celebrates “the experts and enthusiastic amateurs whose passions and skills add something special to our daily lives.” The festival’s events will be hosted by locations that usually charge, alongside free sites and those that aren’t usually open to the public. Among the venues to open their doors to visitors are more than 100 industrial heritage sites from the M Shed in Bristol and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, to the Macclesfield Silk Museum and Wandle Industrial Museum. There are also more than 100 industrial-themed walks, talks and exhibitions.

The 2022 Heritage Open Days festival saw nearly 5,000 events across the country, attracting one million visits. This year, more than 5000 events are planned. Heritage Open Days says around one-third of visitors last year had not visited a heritage site or event in the past year, while 80% of festival-goers said their visit made them more proud of their local area.

To find an industrial site or event follow this link: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/advanced-search

ERIH’s ‘WORK it OUT’ Day of Industrial Culture, September 2023

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The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)’s annual day of industrial culture, ‘WORK it OUT’, returns on 10th September 2023. The European-wide dance festival encompasses 30 industrial heritage sites spread across ten countries. ‘WORK it OUT” premiered in 2018 as ERIH’s main contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Due to its success and popularity, it has since become an annual event.

The event is aimed primarily at young people (children, teenagers, and young adults from school classes, sports clubs, dance and fitness studios) who can consciously experience industrial culture and its sites and discover their significance for their own past, their relevance for the present and their potential for the future. Of course, the young at heart of all ages who want to get moving can also take part.

All over Europe, on the day of the event at 3 pm, dancing will take place in front of, in, and even on imposing industrial sites, making industrial heritage an attractive place to experience. The Brick Museum at Bursledon, Southampton, https://thebrickworksmuseum.org/, is amongst the museums from all over Europe taking taking part this year.

For further details follow this link: https://www.erih.net/projects/erih-dance-event-work-it-out


Rare K8 Phone Boxes Listed

Rare K8 Phone Boxes Listed

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Nine rare K8 phone boxes in and around Hull have been listed at Grade II by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England. The K8 was designed in 1965-66 by architect Bruce Martin who was commissioned by the General Post Office, owners of the public telephone network. In contrast to the intricate glass panelling of Giles Gilbert Scott’s iconic K2 and K6 boxes, it is notable for its modern and minimalist appearance, which made it simpler to repair and maintain.

The K8 kiosk is the last generation of the classic public telephone box. They were massed-produced between 1968 and 1983, when 11,000 K8s were installed across the UK. However, only around 50 remain in their original position. This is because most were removed by British Telecom following its privatisation in 1984 to be replaced by the sleek silver KX100 kiosk, and other variants. These in their turn have been made largely obsolete by the rise of mobile phone ownership in the early 21st century.

Most of the identified surviving K8s are in and around Hull and survived because they were not the property of British Telecom. Hull is the only place in England where the local council actively ran the public telephone network, having been granted a licence to operate from 1902 to 2007. Today, the network continues to be run by an independent company, Kingston Communications.

As a signal the network’s independence, the K8 phone boxes (and the earlier K1 and K6s) in Hull are painted cream, rather than the red used elsewhere in the country.

A white K8 phone box in Hull. Image courtesy of Historic England
Swingate Water Tower, Kimberley, Notts, Awarded Grade II Listed Building Status

Swingate Water Tower, Kimberley, Notts, Awarded Grade II Listed Building Status

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In February 2023 the Swingate Water Tower, Kimberley, Nottinghamshire was awarded Grade II listed status through Historic England. The square-plan water tower was designed by Ritchie and Partners for the Corporation of Nottingham Water Department, in neo-classical style. It was built in the late 1940s and commissioned in 1950. It remained in use into the early 21st century. The water tower was topped with a tank capable of holding 80,000 gallons and the adjoining reservoir was built with a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons.

The listing describes the building as: “unusually architectural for a reinforced concrete water tower, and is designed with pleasing proportions in a striking neo-Georgian style”. It also noted that “the water tower forms an unusually architecturally-refined ensemble which goes far beyond what would be necessary merely for utility.” It has also been deemed as being historically interesting “as an expression of civic pride”.

This is in contrast with most post-war water towers, which were generally utilitarian structures of reinforced concrete, designed principally with practical considerations in mind.

Climate Change and Heritage Case Studies wanted

Climate Change and Heritage Case Studies wanted

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Historic England is seeking heritage sector partners to help them create a digital case study resource. They are looking for case studies under a range of themes relevant to industrial heritage sites and organisations, including climate change and heritage, retrofitting, reuse and regeneration, design and communities. 

The case studies will be used within Historic England’s e-learning courses to support learners within the sector to develop knowledge and confidence in the management of the historic environment through the planning system.   If you have worked on a case or project that you feel demonstrates good practice and could help others, please take a look at the procurement information by following this link:

https://in-tendhost.co.uk/historicengland/aspx/ProjectManage/162

‘The Built Environment Transformed: Textile Lancashire during the Industrial Revolution’ Book wins AIA Award

‘The Built Environment Transformed: Textile Lancashire during the Industrial Revolution’ Book wins AIA Award

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Geoffrey Timmins’ recent Historic England / Liverpool University Press publication ‘The Built Environment Transformed: Textile Lancashire during the Industrial Revolution’ has been announced as the 2022 joint winner of the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s prestigious Peter Neaverson Award for outstanding scholarship in industrial archaeology. 

Focussing on Lancashire’s textile district during c.1780 – c.1850, the book adopts a case-study based approach with chapters on the mill remains in the Cheesden Valley near Rochdale; Barrow Bridge factory village near Bolton; the former handloom weavers’ colony at Club Houses, Horwich; Preston’s Winckley Square; Eanam Wharf at Blackburn; and the road between Bromley Cross and Edgworth to the north of Bolton. It will be of interest to all those with an interest in England’s industrial heritage and how the resulting changes impacted on the historic environment. Further details can be found here – https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781800856530

Reading Civic Society’s ‘Look Draw Build@Reading Station’ Commended in National Awards

Reading Civic Society’s ‘Look Draw Build@Reading Station’ Commended in National Awards

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The Thornton Education Trust has commended the ‘Look Draw Build@Reading Station’ schools project, a Reading Civic Society project to engage children in architecture, engineering, and railways, in their Inspire Future Generations Awards 2022. In May 2022, the project, which was aimed at children in Reading Primary Schools, reached approximately 450 children.

The Society worked with Gemma Solanellas, an architect and member of the Civic Society, to help with the project’s delivery, which was funded by the Great Western Railway Community Fund. Haslams Estate Agents were Gold Sponsors, and they, along with Stantec Engineers/Architects, Weston & Co Architects, and Reading Civic Society member Matt Andrews, all assisted the Civic Society in delivering project workshops to 15 classes of year 4-6 children from 9 schools, for a total of 450 children.

When the project was finished, the Civic Society decided to submit it to the Thornton Educational Trust for their “Inspire Future Generations Awards.” Thornton Education Trust (TET) is a charity dedicated to incorporating architecture and urban design into children’s education and providing young people with a voice in their community through youth-led design and community participation.

Shortlisting the award, Thornton Education Trust said: “The project helped the local Reading community allowing some 450 children to connect with architecture, engineering, and railway history. The broad approach of the project helped the children to think critically and creatively about their own communities and enhanced their learning journey outside the classroom. Additionally, the touring exhibition brought to a wider audience awareness of how children can learn through architecture and the public space which surrounds them and what they can achieve with simple materials”. The project was commended for its: ‘Excellent engagement with KS2 students, engaging with them through the means of a video to understand the history of the area and then model making. Students looked totally at ease and seem to enjoy the activity. The models were
of a very high creative standard’.

Further details about the Thornton Education Trust can be found here: https://www.thorntoneducationtrust.org/

Impact of Industrial Heritage & Archaeology: Discussion on BBC Radio 5 Live

Impact of Industrial Heritage & Archaeology: Discussion on BBC Radio 5 Live

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Did you hear the fascinating discussion about Industrial Heritage and its impact on Britain during Colin Murray’s BBC Radio 5 Live ‘Late Night Conversations’ programme broadcast from 12 midnight to 1am Monday 18th October 2022? If not, don’t worry as you have 30 days to catch up on BBC Sounds. The hour-long discussion, inspired by a listener’s suggested topic, brought together enthusiasts and experts to review, briefly, the industrial heritage and archaeology of Britain and Ireland. Colin was accompanied in this discussion and tour of British and Irish industrilisation by the Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England, Mike Nevell.

Pete Waterman, popular music entrepeneur and steam train enthusiast and owner, began the discussion with the continuing impact of the railways. Zoe Arthur of the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust and Vice Chair of the Association for Industrial Archaeology, talked about some of the key industrial sites in Wales from copper and canals to reservoirs and slate and the, sometimes, negative impact of these industries. Colin Rynne, of University College Cork, highlighted the island of Ireland’s important role in industrialisation and some of the key sites to visit including gin distilleries and the linen mills of Belfast. Miles Oglethorpe, of Historic Environment Scotland and Chair of the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage, talked about coal, rail, and textiles in Scotland, and highlighted industrial heritage’s international links in terms of regenerating old buildings and improving local neighbourhoods, as well as helping to combat climate change by recycling old structures. Nigel Linge, professor of telecommunications at Salford University, looked at the importance of the railways in promoting the telegraph system during the mid-19th century, and the rise of the telephone box network during the early 20th century. He also pointed out how rapid technological change makes it very difficult to record the infrastructure of the mobile phone network.

Mike finished the discussion with a brief review of why the Ironbridge Gorge, and the museum trust of that name, are internationally important, being one of nine industrial world heritage sites in Britain (along with Blaenavon, Cornish tin mining, Derwent Valley Mills, the Forth Railway Bridge, New Lanark Mills, the Pontcycsillte aqueduct and canal, Saltaire mills, and Welsh Slate). Throughout the discussions there was an emphasis on people, the impact of new technology on people’s working and domestic lives, and the lasting landscape legacy of these industries.

To hear the full discussion follow this programme link and start 2 hours in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001d414

The Ironbridge at the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and the first single arched cast-iron bridge in the world.

Heritage Volunteering Conference 2022 – Tickets Now on Sale

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Tickets for this year’s Heritage Volunteering Group Conference, #HeritageVolunteering22, on the 8th to 9th November, are now available. #HeritageVolunteering22 will explore how we make the most of our varied skills to build a new future for heritage volunteering.

The conference will open with a Keynote talk from Shaun Delaney, Head of Volunteering Strategy at DCMS. The rest of the conference will feature a combination of workshops, panel discussions, and the awarding of HVG’s Volunteer Leader of the Year Award. The full agenda is available on the Eventbrite page

General tickets are available at £25. Follow this link to buy your tickets: here.