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Has anyone else noticed how these topics currently under discussion intertwine?

 

There is a "submarine forest" marked on the map of Marazion.

 

I think it is the fact that Mounts Bay is full of submerged woodland that gave rise to the legends (but, are they?) of the lost land of Lyonesse, the last inhabitants of which were forced to move inland by the rising waters, where they founded a chain of tea shops, and ended their days making disappointingly small chocolate-covered Swiss Rolls.

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"I wish I could have written this" # 1

a letter in the Grauniad today

Quote

Re Cherry Weston’s letter (7 November), as the constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney has been a Labour stronghold since 1983, whether the woman in Merthyr casts her vote according to the elemental composition of Boris Johnson’s testicles is highly unlikely to make a vas deferens.
Adrian Brodkin
London

dh

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4 hours ago, Northroader said:

Other people were involved too.....04E368AD-9851-4E08-AF58-CBBB10D7B54B.jpeg.2b589104f4bb14481bb71ba1e92be558.jpeg

 

For a photo thats been posted a few times, it's only just clicked that JA is sailing a genuine Dutch dinghy (perhaps we should say Jacht?).

 

Its got Leeboards!!!

 

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I really meant to post this (relevant to CA)  flooded marshland extract from my reading of the borrowed tome on Holkham from next door: 

297647130_53floods.jpg.92c95ff28bbf4076ddbd3c5021c19cdb.jpg

This is an attempt (to skirt around my rmweb copyright scolding) to post about the fascinating paras on the impact of the 1953 tidal surge flood on the reclaimed  marshland on the North Norfolk coast.

Christene Hinksey writes that the railway was completely washed away and it took several days to rescue the occupants of the (typical GER) station house, inset top left.  The extract is from my crop of the SNLoS 6" map shewing the north end of the Holkham lake and the village on the edge of the marsh. The viewpoint of the minimal pic top right is the red arrow on the GER WN Branch as it leaves Wells (you can just glimpse the signal post).

In my teens we used to call in to the caravan site on the Wells marsh a year or so after the inundation (on the way to visiting grandparents further south in E Anglia). The Pinewoods were completely dead so there was an elegaic mournfulness about the coast that particularly appealed to my mum.

dh

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The West Norfolk never reopened being thereafter truncated at Burnham Market. Some of the pines at Abraham's have been replanted but the boating lake is gone forever. Sad. Even sadder was that the flood destroyed half the houses in Freeman Street, Wells.

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11 hours ago, runs as required said:

I really meant to post this (relevant to CA)  flooded marshland extract from my reading of the borrowed tome on Holkham from next door: 

297647130_53floods.jpg.92c95ff28bbf4076ddbd3c5021c19cdb.jpg

This is an attempt (to skirt around my rmweb copyright scolding) to post about the fascinating paras on the impact of the 1953 tidal surge flood on the reclaimed  marshland on the North Norfolk coast.

Christene Hinksey writes that the railway was completely washed away and it took several days to rescue the occupants of the (typical GER) station house, inset top left.  The extract is from my crop of the SNLoS 6" map shewing the north end of the Holkham lake and the village on the edge of the marsh. The viewpoint of the minimal pic top right is the red arrow on the GER WN Branch as it leaves Wells (you can just glimpse the signal post).

In my teens we used to call in to the caravan site on the Wells marsh a year or so after the inundation (on the way to visiting grandparents further south in E Anglia). The Pinewoods were completely dead so there was an elegaic mournfulness about the coast that particularly appealed to my mum.

dh

 

We've walked the Holkham pinewoods, planted in the late Nineteenth Century as a windbreak IIRC.  I found them to be mournful. No one else in the family felt that way about them.

 

Shows what a miserable git I must be.

 

19 minutes ago, wagonman said:

The West Norfolk never reopened being thereafter truncated at Burnham Market. Some of the pines at Abraham's have been replanted but the boating lake is gone forever. Sad. Even sadder was that the flood destroyed half the houses in Freeman Street, Wells.

 

Thank you both, this is fascinating.

 

On a point of disambiguation, this section of line was part of the West Norfolk Junction Railway, opened 17 August 1866 and extending from the Lynn to Hunstanton Railway near Heacham, and is most definitely not to be confused with the West Norfolk Railway, already flourishing for a decade by this point.

 

EDIT: Continuing my furlough from railways, my reading has led me to a fascinating instance of a French army led by an Englishman defeating an English army led by a Frenchman.  Where, when, who and why?!?

 

Any takers?

 

 

 

Edited by Edwardian
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15 hours ago, Northroader said:

Wow. The proportions on that are driving my OCD totally bonkers.

 

EDIT: I've just discovered it's a statue of Peter the Great. That explains the odd proportions and the dwarf.
 

18 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Continuing my furlough from railways, my reading has led me to a fascinating instance of a French army led by an Englishman defeating an English army led by a Frenchman.  Where, when, who and why?!?

 

Any takers?

I remember being told about this too. The 1707 Battle of Almansa, the French were led by the Duke of Berwick and the English by Henri de Massue, an exiled Huguenot who became Earl of Galway. The English were also subcommanded by an 80-year-old Portuguese man.

Edited by RedGemAlchemist
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Speaking of people 'leading' opposing armies, here is a story told to me by a dear old friend of mine called Glenn A. (same spelling of 'Glenn' as the famous bandleader).

During the North Africa campaign, Glenn, was with some colleagues, working in a forward workshop, repairing various armoured vehicles both Allied and Axis, when a shout came up "Germans coming"!

Everybody else scarpered rapidly except for Glenn who was so absorbed in his repairs, he didn't emerge for a short while. When he did, he was surprised to find no-one there so he looked out the door and realised what was happening, looked around for a vehicle and the first he saw was a turretless Sherman tank.

He managed to get it started at first try and drove off as fast as he could, ahead of the advancing enemy.

As he drove along the road, he saw in the distance a single figure with his arm held high and when he drew alongside, this figure dropped his arm and massed British guns opened up to obliterate the approaching forces.

The figure turned to him and said how lucky he was this chap recognised the chassis of the Sherman, if he had dropped his arm earlier, Glenn would have disappeared into the dust.

As he told me some forty odd years later, he inadvertently led a German armoured advance!

 

Not in the same way as the previous examples but I was always fascinated by Glenn's stories. Of course, I don't know if they were just that or a composite of various peoples experiences or what, he was a good raconteur! 

 

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31 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

 

I remember being told about this too. The 1707 Battle of Almansa, the French were led by the Duke of Berwick and the English by Henri de Massue, an exiled Huguenot who became Earl of Galway. The English were also subcommanded by an 80-year-old Portuguese man.

 

Well done that man!

 

 

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19 hours ago, Edwardian said:

That makes perfect sense, and explains the elevated viewpoint. I had wondered if that was the station starter given how close to the station the marsh starts. 

 

1176527988_MarizonMarshes.jpg.fcb29ece0776a94e3f3872486ccd63c9.jpg

 

This stretch of line from St Erth to Marazion wasn't doubled until June 1929. For a circa-1925 photo taken from the bridge, with what is probably the CRE (the stock matches that defined in the 1925 coaches programme) see Mike Morant's site:

This shot of an unidentified GWR Churchward 4300 class mogul dates from circa 1925 and shows the Penzance portion of the down Cornish Riviera Express approaching Marazion at the end of the single line section from St Erth. This section wasn't doubled until June 1929; (the final section of the Cornish main line, Scorrier to Redruth, wasn't doubled until April 1930). The view is from the bridge over the line at the east end of the station with Marazion Marsh behind the train & Marazion village in the hazy distance. The coaches are in the 1922 livery which suggests a mid-1920s date. The make-up of the train: Van 3rd, 3rd, Compo, Diner, Van 3rd, all 68/70ft vehicles, exactly matches that specified for the CRE in the GW's official 'Programme of Working of Coaches in Through trains' for the summer of 1925. [E. A. Gurney-Smith / Mike Morant collection] This image created quite a stir because of the puzzle as to the location. The solution came from members of the GWS, the GWR E-List and Mike Roach who kindly set the ball rolling. My (our) grateful thanks are extended to all of the contributors.

 

Notice the TPO mailbag exchange apparatus hut, which doesn't appear in the painting. Yes, there was such at Marazion in spite of the fact it was only a few miles from Penzance. According to Hosegood's book on GWR TPOs the apparatus was sited 350yds east of the station for up trains, & 605yds west for down trains.  He gives a date of 1913 for first installation. There had been a level crossing at this point until about 1912 when the bridge was built, allowing for double track which allowed the very short headshunt to be extended as seen here.

 

This stretch of Cornish main-line line wasn't the last to be doubled - that dubious honour fell to the section between Scorrier & Redruth, doubled in April 1930. I guess WW1 delayed all doubling work.

 

Martin

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We stayed by the campsite by the pines and found the Pinewoods and the Sands  suited both us and the dogs we also very much enjoyed exploring Wells. Regarding flooding on arriving at the campsite you are given a leaflet about what to do if the Flood Siren goes. The advice was basically if you are a visitor get in  your vehicle and leave with the best route advised. Marion had just read this when a siren went off  her immediate reaction was to get ready to leave only having arrived 30 minutes before hand. However I had noticed the tide was out as we arrived and whilst it had probably turned there was no way any flooding was imminent.  We later found out the siren was to warn people that the incoming tide was about to prevent walking across the mouth of the harbour access and should you be out on the salt marsh side you would be stuck there until the next low tide.

 

Incidently if you are fans of Dectective Novels, Peter Grainger has written a series based around Kings Lynn and the Norfolk coast  which we thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Don

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I was well astray on the battle. I was wandering around this morning's chores pondering over the taking of Quebec and that.

 

One of the most memorable town planning seminars I ever heard (at Kings Manor, York thanks to EU Erasmus funding) was how the axial development of Paris existe dans la tête

The chief planner related a story of the Monarchist and the Mayor standing back to back in the early days of expanding off the ile de France (somewhere to the east of the present day Louvre) and making a pact.  The  Monarchy should look west and the Mayor would look east. From that the great East-West axis evolved : the Louvre, P de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, La Defense  running westwards and the Hotel de la Ville, Bois de Vincennes eastwards.

Rien de rien must ever close the open axis westwards.

But then Louis XIV sets out to build Versailles - with a canal duplicating and in parallel with the Grand Axis westwards. His vision was that Argosies would arrive under the windows of his palace and unpack their treasures from the Americas.

A difference in height of about 100 M between Rouen and Versailles (besides General Wolfe) paid to realising that.  Milton Keynes's kilometre grid doesn't quite match these Heroics!

dh

 

 

Edited by runs as required
typos
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44 minutes ago, wagonman said:

I thought it was Baron Haussmann who was responsible for the Grandes Boulevards of Paris, radiating from the Étoile. 

 

Haussmann's Boulevards (including the one named after him) don't all radiate from the Arc de Triomphe. That main axis (not quite east/west) is rather splendid even if not quite straight as the road has to go round the Louvre Palace.

 

A complete mystery to me why they allowed La Defense to be built where it is which ruins the view up the Champs-Elysee and through the Arc. Of course, it was a cheap and available site as a former railway marshalling yard.

 

Of course, Haussmann only managed to rebuild a small fraction of Paris. One can still find bits that show their origins as villages that got absorbed by the city. Until about 1900, there were still quite extensive areas of fields within the city defensive walls, which ran roughly where the Blvd Peripherique ring road is now.

Edited by Joseph_Pestell
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5 hours ago, Donw said:

 

 

Incidently if you are fans of Dectective Novels, Peter Grainger has written a series based around Kings Lynn and the Norfolk coast  which we thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Don

The inspector George Gently series of books was based in Norfolk too.. Only the TV company moved it to foreign parts.. 

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2 hours ago, DonB said:

 

Boat well heeled over, a rough sea, but not a hair out of place, What a woman !

No

No

Yes

Yes

 

No it's not well heeled over.  It is leaning a bit due to her weight- which shows how hard the wind is not blowing.  The sail is filled out but is not sufficiently being pushed to even out the lean.

No that is not a rough sea - believe me.  People have swum the Channel in much worse than that.

Yes not a hair out os place but see above about the force of the wind

Yes - what a woman!

 

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6 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

... . A complete mystery to me why they allowed La Defense to be built where it is which ruins the view up the Champs-Elysee and through the Arc

Of course, it was a cheap and available site as a former railway marshalling yard (agreed) ...

This was exactly the reason for the York Seminar.

Our speaker: the chief planner for Paris, had just completed the masterplan for La Defense (as one of Pres. Mitterand’s ? Grands Projets). 

High rise was the controversial big question of the early 1980s and how it would impact on big European cities. Here planners were in favour of low rise/high density e.g. Alexandria Road terraced housing alongside the line out of Euston.

Paris, after erecting the Montparnasse slab, had given its thumbs down to further building high over rail terminals in central Paris.  So La Defense was conceived as extending the Grand Axis across the Seine to a spectacular Financial skyscraper cluster viewed against the sunset on the old Oak Common railyards . The La Defense monument itself is maybe a cliché concrete picture frame you look through within which a swing is suspended – because markets swing up & down (Geddit?).

 

London pursued a rather weaker policy of concentrating serious high rise in Docklands and (apart from the 1960s high rises at Centrepoint and the rail termini) tried to protect key views of St Pauls from high spots like Sydenham, Richmond Park and Hampstead.

During Johnson’s Mayorship high-rise competition was encouraged to let rip between the City, Docklands, and wherever Developers sensed ‘a rabbit could run away’.

 

Of course the Americans meanwhile have been plugging “New Urbanism”: (conceptually a revival of Edwardian boulevard) building along railtracks. Hence we currently have the Oxbridge railine being developed as a spine of free market development. We may expect a lot more of this - especially along Northern intercity desire lines ...

dh

PS

Despite using the words Edwardian, Euston and rail tracks I hereby apologise for this being the most boring post on James's CA thread,  

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i felt bit depressed after thinking about where things will be going after our de-regulated Brexmas in the above post - so ...marazion.jpg.d2b06208de3525c8086c9b94e711fb5c.jpg

 

... I had a go at reframing Marazion and lightening up the July 2018 Google street view from the over-bridge posted earlier. Interesting to note the comparable field patterns top right .

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Very clever RaR.  Very much the essence of the modern rail system though.  Waterways overgrown and clogged with weeds, the lineside no longer being kept clear of vegetation and despite the double track not a train in sight.

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