Trivia Investigation Team

[NewcastleFalcon]

I like it when the normal delve produces a bit more than you were expecting. With the fantastic resource of Brocross if you find a brick with a name on it , it will identify it, have pictures of it, and a bonus a bit of info about the brickworks it came from. The search facility allows for a partial match thanks to an index put together on the site even if the the letters are indistinct or the section of brick only contains a few.

Withnell Plastic

That particular brick has made its way to Northumberland from The Withnell Brick and Terra Cotta Company Ltd at Abbey Village, Withnell, Chorley, Lancs probably some time in the early 2oth Century.

So from 1912 the Internet Archive site here https://archive.org/details/CatalogueNo ... ?q=plastic

has Catalogue No4 of the Withnell Brick and Terracotta Company (1912) Ltd

Contributed by the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

How on earth has that catalogue survived and what's more from its slumbers, presumably within the Canadian Centre For Architecture, it has been scanned into the Internet Archive to be found April 18th 2023 on the back of a photographed brick, and made it to the FCF Trivia Investigation Thread. Not many will have a flick through but ever wondered where the rich variety of terracotta special tiles in our buildings came from, this particular brickworks made a lot more than bricks

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

A small piece of Church Clock Trivia

Should you ever visit Buckland-in-the-Moor in Devon, open your eyes and your ears or you may well miss, and unusual sight and sound from the 12th Century Parish Church of St Peter's.

1. The Church Clock instead of Numerals has the words "My Dear Mother"

The black-and-gold timepiece was added to the old church in 1931 by William Whitley, Lord of Buckland Manor. He had the clock made as a memorial to his mother

2. Every quarter hour, its chimes play the the Anglican hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”

Lets see if Geograph has a picture or youtube a video...
Unusual clock face

© Copyright Guy Wareham and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.



Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

For those who like a bit of cog turning and chain drives this could be for you...



Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

The original One Thousand Mile Trial in 1900

Jim and Zel both mentioned that yesterday was ‘drive-it day’ organised since 2005 by the Federation of British Historic Vehicles Clubs as close as possible to the date of the original 1000 Miles trial in 1900 on a route from London to Edinburgh and back.

it’s laid out in graces guide for those who want a couple of minutes read.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1900_One_ ... Mile_Trial

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

The original One Thousand Mile Trial in 1900

Jim and Zel both mentioned that yesterday was ‘drive-it day’ organised since 2005 by the Federation of British Historic Vehicles Clubs as close as possible to the date of the original 1000 Miles trial in 1900 on a route from London to Edinburgh and back.

it’s laid out in graces guide for those who want a couple of minutes read.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1900_One_ ... Mile_Trial

One thing leads to another and in the National Motor Museum’s piece on the original event, page down to the comments and you will find Mr F. Lomax did as much of the original route as possible in his Morgan.

https://nationalmotormuseum.org.uk/thou ... rial-1900/

He did a photo blog for each day and I have selected with considerable personal bias day 7 and day 8 of his journey.

https://franks4x4-1000milerally.blogspo ... astle.html

https://franks4x4-1000milerally.blogspo ... leeds.html

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

A name which cropped up as being a resident of Fittleworth in West Sussex, the location of "The Swan Inn" my self selected Pub-of-the-Day, was Duncan Carse.

I instantly recognised that name. Back in 1968 Duncan Carse did a TV programme called "The Goshawk". I was fascinated with it, all about the art of falconry and the training of the Goshawk. Yes it was the same Duncan Carse as revealed by his wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Carse

He was also..."the voice of Special Agent Dick Barton for 265 of the 711 episodes of the very popular BBC Radio serial. He continued in this role until leaving for the South Georgia Survey in 1951. Carse worked as a presenter through the mid-1980s, and participated in producing BBC documentaries about South Georgia and the Antarctic."

No doubt somewhere in the BBC Archives "The Goshawk" is preserved but lo and behold the whole thing is on youtube...



Neil

[bobins]

Whilst looking into the Hartshill Country Park (See CitroJim viewtopic.php?p=753971#p753971) and the areas use for mining and quarrying, I noticed not one, not two, but three ! wharves in close proximity to each other. You don't see many wharves around these days Also, a few tramways and mineral lines servicing the quarries and Coventry Canal.
It also looks like the old Hartshill sewage works (Nuneaton and Chilvers Coton Urban District Council) has jumped over the railway line and set up shop there now

Hartshill map extract - https://maps.nls.uk

Chigley Wharf

[NewcastleFalcon]

Excellent extra's Bobins

Another related brick and the name on the brick is Moorwood

Owned by Jee's Hartshill Granite & Brick Co. Ltd. near Nuneaton. Had it's own siding, worked by horses, on the Midland Railway, Stockingford branch line. This connection was put in place in the 1890's, the brickworks closed in 1912, so had a relatively short life. Photo and info by Nigel Furniss.

Which can be found on the map, just up from the Brickworks. Bottom half of map, left of centre.



Neil

[CitroJim]

Wow! Interesting stuff

Thanks for doing the research and digging up some gems

[NewcastleFalcon]

the vicarage - where I can imagine Alec Guiness playing the part of the vicar ,

Reversing a few pages to the village of Muggleswick, the controversial Bishop Of Durham, "Triple "H"" ( Herbert Hensley Henson) and his frequent trips to visit the outlying Moorland Parish and the Ritsons of Calf Hall I can imagine very local lad of that patch Rowan Atkinson doing an excellent job of portraying Triple "H".

Plenty of material as Triple H kept a meticulous Diary, all of which is available on line via The Henson Journals project of Durham University and the Cathedral.
https://www.hensonjournals.org/

Looking at the pic of Henson, Rowan wouldn't have to spend too much time in make-up to capture a reasonable likeness, and I imagine Henson from his writings, being quite like Atkinson in his humour.



Not that I expect bricks to feature heavily in the docu/drama/gentle comedy/nice scenery/parish pootlings of Bishop of Durham Triple H, an addendum to the Muggleswick Ritson story which brings all this to mind, was yet another Brick find on Whitley Bay Beach this Thursday...yes one from one the Ritson Collieries Brickworks at Preston, North Shields.

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Curious Church Clock Trivia

Interesting little blog post about unusual clocks.

https://roys-roy.blogspot.com/2013/10/c ... locks.html

Meanwhile the church clock of St Mary Magdelene at Whitgift in East Yorkshire bears Roman numerals to the value of 13-o-clock instead of the usual 12! The explanation for this anomaly is that in 1919, when the present clock was installed, it was found that the hands failed to synchronise exactly with the figures on the dial. Rather than remove the clock movement, it was decided to paint out the second 1 in the X11 originally gilded on the face, and to place another 1 further to the right. In some obscure way this was expected to alleviate the problem. The story continues, that the paint was said to be of such poor quality that the covered 1 began to show through again, thus filling the gap to produce X111.

This is a replacement, purposely repeating the "error" of the previous clock

geograph stamped image

Neil

[bobins]

"At the third stroke, the time sponsored by Accurist will be thirteen o'clock"

[CitroJim]

That's amazing but not entirely surprising - knowing the quirks of mechanical clock movements of the period

[NewcastleFalcon]

Top trivia contribution from Bobins over on the "One for the Train Buffs thread!" here

viewtopic.php?p=758878#p758878

One of the sites I use as a reference book from time to time is the wonderful disused-stations.org.uk a credit to the compilers and contributors. I was looking up the Kelso to St Boswells now disused railway for any.....

<Much Snippage>

Neil

Useless piece of trivia time.....
The chap who started that website is the same one behind the Royal Observer Corps Post survey of 20+ years ago who was also one of the original team behind the early days of Radio Jackie - The Sound of South West London.
Told you it was useless

From the pages of Radio Kaleidoscope 1967-1973 Nick Catford, he of disused stations and other things fame, from his days at Radio Jackie....

http://www.bookamook.com/kaleidoscope/s ... k-catford/

bit of visuals of the gear..more in the link

Neil

[CitroJim]

In interesting link Neil Thanks for that!