Power - Thematic Photography

I was surprised how many of my photos would fit the 'Power' theme although that was not the reason for taking them.

The latest that have come to my attention stand at least four miles away with the North Yorks Moors behind them.

Wind Turbines

The eagle-eyed among you may just make out the line of pylons part of the electricity power grid. Just to make it easier for you here is a shot of the moors to the right of the turbine photo.

Power Pylon backed by North Yorkshire Moors

As an example of power in use I just have to include a shot from our lounge.

Electric fire in use

Of course there are different forms of power; one of the earliest can be seen here.

Horsepower on Saltburn Beach

It's also possible to generate power using the waves, but beware that sometimes water takes control.

Waves from the Fowey Estuary in Cornwall very much in charge

River barrages, like the ones on the River Tees enable control to be regain of tidal waters as you can see here when the river is in flood and the flow to the sea is controlled.

One gate of the River Tees Barrage

No power shoot would be complete without a reference to the motor car. Of course the petrol companies try to get in on the act in their advertising campaigns,

V-Power Performance Fuels

For which they charge extra of course.

Missing from this power collection is nuclear power so there is a note to myself to go out a take a shot of our local nuclear power station at nearby Hartlepool.

When all else fails there are times when

Only Manpower Works

Not forgetting the woman behind the camera and behind the wheel.

The Driving Force - power on!

To see other power uses (and misuses?) check in with Carmi at Thematic-photographic-268.

Rain - Sepia Saturday

It's hard to work up enthusiasm for rain in the middle of a heat wave as this week's rainy prompt requires.

 A dip in a swimming pool would be much more enjoyable.

Hartlepool Bathing Pool

The open-air swimming pool was opened in 1923. It was badly damaged during the great storm of January 1953, and was never fully repaired. The surviving remains of the pool itself are mostly obscured by seaweed, and all of the shoreward structures have long gone.

'Bathing Pool' area - 1953

A local beauty spot where children were often taken to paddle was Aysgarth Falls in Wensleydale but not on a day when the river was in flood.

Aysgarth Falls

Aysgarth Falls are a triple flight of waterfalls, surrounded by forest and farmland, carved out by the River Ure over an almost a one-mile stretch on its descent to mid-Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales of England, near the village of Aysgarth.

In Cornwall the River Fowey can flood quite spectacularly as it did in 2008

Somehow I don't think that there would have been many boat trips round the estuary that day. You would also have been struggling to go for a pint at the King of Prussia.

Fowey Parking - 2008.

It may have been OK for The Beatles to sing.

But for me it's Adele who has the right idea.

Meanwhile while you check out other rainy themes at Sepia-Saturday-185. I have to get ready to take my wife out for a birthday meal.

Trick Cyclists - Sepia Saturday.

I've always regarded cycling as savage amusement so I have some sympathy with the young Western Union messenger with no shoes this week.

There is a trick to cycling that I can't claim to master. How these fellows in a Norwegian cycling club got on their bikes I can't imagine,

Stavanger Cycling Club 1900

Only a few years later two men were to set out on a race across America.

Fred Scherer & Walt Wiley - May 3, 1913

(Library of Congress)

This was the start of a race from New York to San Francisco, rather them than me. Before the turn of the century a Hartlepool cycle dealer had been proud to show off his cycle.

Robert Brown, cycle dealer, Straton - 1890

The young boy is at least wearing shoes but is in the wrong country and too well dressed to be Western Union messengers like these:

New Orleans Telegraph Boy - 1913

(Library of Congress - by Lewis Wickes Hine)

William Bold, Western Union Messenger No.14 -1911

(Library of Congress - by Lewis Wickes Hine)

Apparently William was 12 years old and usually worked until 11 pm in Tampa, Florida; but all night if they were busy. Would the boy, holding his dog in the picture of Robert Brown, have survived hours like that?

As you probably know I like to work dogs into my posts. You have had one so far but now I am pleased to present the Trick Cyclist of the Year.

Dog riding a tricycle

 (Image from National Media Collection)

Perhaps I should also mention that Its Sepia Saturday - Get-on-your-bike  has been viewed by nearly 850 people making it my most visited post.

Don't let that stop you however from visiting others this week at Sepia-Saturday-162. 

At an Angle - Thematic Photography.

Angles creep into shots without you always being aware. I have several to meet Carmi's 'At an Angle' theme this week. I may have shown some of these before so let's see how many you can recognise.

Tall Ships - Hartlepool 2010

I'm sure that the angle of of this plane was not intended - did someone let go of the tail?

Nosedive - Mediterranean WWII

Cables on the Clifton side of Brunel's famous suspension bridge are at an angle too it seems.

Clifton Suspension Bridge - 2010

This big beast needs to have its jib at an angle when lifting heavy loads.

Balder - Heavy Lift Crane

The picture was taken during the construction of the Statfjord 'B' deck at Rosenberg Verft, Stavanger in the 1980s

This anchor is at an angle on the quayside in Copenhagen,

Anchor - Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Also at an angle because it was built that way is this Condeep test leg in Stavanger.

Troll test leg - 1980s.

Finally a picture that's out of this world.

Aurora on Jupiter  taken by the Hubble Telescope

Now that's an 'at an angle' shot that I would have loved to have taken.

For more angular momentum, please visit Carmi's blog at Thematic-photographic-212

Fleamarket Postcards - Hartlepool to Middleton Ferry

The second postcard of Hartlepool  I came across in Stockton fleamarket was this view of the Hartlepool to Middleton Ferry.

Hartlepool Ferry (Photographer Alfred Price)

From 1854 to 1952 the ferry from Old Hartlepool to Middleton provided a means for Hrtlepool people to get to work. The 35 foot boats used had to cover only a short distance of c100 metres. From the 1800s people were employed in boat yards on Middleton beach. The village of Middleton, named after a local Methodist and friend of John Wesley, no longer exists.

The Museum of Hartlepool's photostream has the picture of the ferry boat being rowed by two men.

Hartlepool Old Ferry

The e-podunk website for Hartlepool has a postcard of the ferry in operation. Unfortunately they have not responded to my request to use their picture but you can see for yourself by visiting them here

The last ferry stopped soon after the last true ferryman slipped on the ferry steps.

The ferry man, Bull Boagey, cracked his head and died in 1951 while returning from a fishing trip.

Sandwell Chare - Hartlepool

Earlier I put up this postcard of Sandwell Gate in Hartlepool's town wall. The eagle-eyed among you will see that the wording on the card says, 'Ancient Water Gate Sandwell Chare Hartlepool 1908'.

Sandwell Gate & Sandwell Chare

It checking other details about Hartlepool I came across this photograph taken from the other direction.

Sandwell Chare looking towards Sandwell Gate.

This photo comes from the Museum of Hartlepool's Flickr photostream. It is from The Pattinson Collection (Hartlepool Museum), a group of images taken by the Reverend James Whitehead Pattinson during the latter years of the 19th Century, in and around the Hartlepool and Bishop Auckland areas.

Fleamarket Postcards - Sandwell Gate, Hartlepool

The Heugh a peninsula or headland in the North East of England is familiarly known as Old Hartlepool. It may have been an isolated tidal island in prehistoric times. Excavations in the 19^th century unearthed trunks of trees believed to be the remnants of an ancient forest. Antlers and teeth  recovered indicated that deer inhabited the area in those earlier times.

The Anglo-Saxon name for Hartlepool was Heret eu or Stag Island. This refers either to the shape of the headland or indicates the presence of forest deer. Heret eu later became known as Hart, a district covering the Heugh and the nearby villages of Hart and Billingham. The word ‘pool’ was added to distinguish the headland from Hart,

In the 13^th century the port and fishing town of Hartlepool was fortified by defensive walls built round the headland. Some parts of Hartlepool’s ancient wall remain, including Sandwell Gate.

Sandwell Gate 1908 (unused postcard)

 Photographer Alfred Price

A modern photo from Flickr shows the gate in recent times:

Sandwell Gate

 (ex flickr - by twiggles - CC BY-NC 2.0 license)

The postcard appears to be one of a series of local Heritage Prints by Alfred Price (1890-1912)

Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge was opened in 1911 by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria.

The Transporter Bridge towers over Middlesbrough and stands 225 feet high. It is a working bridge ferrying people and vehicles 580 feet across the river. Its Grade II listed status means that it cannot be demolished, which is just as well as it stands on the banks of the River Tees adjacent to the waste land that makes up most of the ongoing Middlehaven development.

The first proposal for a transporter bridge was the design of Charles Smith, a Hartlepool man. His design had a span of 650 feet, and a height under the span of 150 feet; the gondola suspended from the structure had to dodge ships passing up and down the Tees. The estimated cost £31,136.

Eighteen transporter bridges were built in the period 1893 – 1916, a number of the earlier ones in France. Today only eight remain. In 1906 the Frenchman Ferdinand Arnodin resurrected Smith’s idea. Arnodin’s design was 160 feet high under the span. 571 feet between the piers and foundations down to 90 feet on the Port Clarence and 70 feet on the Middlesbrough side of the river. The total length of the bridge is 851 feet, the height 225.

Royal assent for the bridge was obtained in 1907. Sir William Arrol and Company was awarded the construction contract at an estimated cost of £68,026. Arrol brought in Scottish steel from Lanarkshire so despite what so many people believe the bridge was not built from local steel companies. The foundation stone was laid on 3 August 1910.

When opened by Prince Arthur in 1911 the bridge had cost £84,000.

In its first year the bridge carried 2 million passengers, in 2010 the total was 120, 000.

In 1974 the actor Terry Scott had a moment of fame when he drove his car over the edge onto the support frame, thinking it was a normal bridge.

A small visitor centre on the Middlesbrough side was opened by Fred Dibnah in 2000. There are plans to fit lifts to the walkway at the top of the bridge. If you are feeling brave the Transporter is licensed for bungee jumps.

The bridge has been described by Sir Nickolaus Pevsner as, “A European Monument, in its daring and finesse – A Thrill to see from anywhere.”

Flea Market Postcards - Blanchland

Recently I visited a flea market in the Green Dragon Yard, Stockton-on-Tees. There I discovered one stall with a box of postcards for sale. I bought four cards all addressed to the same lady in Hartlepool. The postmarks covered the period from 1960 – 1973.

The card showing the Lord Crewe Arms and the 15^th century gatehouse at Blanchland, Northumberland was not franked. However the 5.1/2p stamp meant that it would have sent after 1971 and before 1975

(From a an original painting by E I Forrest)

The name 'Blanchland' means 'white land', and comes from the white robes worn by monks who established a monastery there in 1165. The abbey disbanded by Henry VIII. The abbot’s house became an inn, the Lord Crewe Arms. Many of the village cottages seen today were built from stone scavenged from the old abbey buildings.

The vast fireplace within the Lord Crewe Arms is where ‘General’ Tom Forster hid during the 1715 Jacobite rising. The ghost of his sister, Dorothy is said to haunt the hotel.

Blanchland was bought by the Bishop of Durham, Nathaniel Lord Crewe in 1708, and on his death in 1721 Blanchland became part of a charitable trust established by his will. A popular destination for visitors from all over the world, Blanchland is reputed to be one of the prettiest villages in England.