Little things - for the layout outside the railway fence

[corneliuslundie]

That's the problem. You need to know whether the hedge was planted with mixed species or has gained them over the centuries.

But for us modellers I think the important issue is the way hedges change colour both along their lengths and through the seasons.

I am afraid that I am never convinced by those bits of sponge.

Of course garden hedges are completely different, often one species by design - though brambles, bindweed etc will still try to infiltrate.

Jonathan

[Philou]

'Tis me again! Just catching up on this really interesting thread - especially of all the things that are seen but unseen.

 

About 4 pages back was a photo of a old factory wall with a window opening over which were wooden lintels and the question was asked 'how much weight were they supporting?' The answer to that is ' Not a lot'. When determining the load carried by a lintel (in a non-load bearing wall), it's not a vertical column of material that is/was calculated, but a triangular-shaped one (usually 45° if brick or stone) as it is considered that if the lintel DID collapse that the brickwork/stonework would self-support anyway going upwards due to the pressure of the bricks against each other resisting further collapse. Hence the small window shown would only have a small triangle of missing stonework had the lintel rotted away. There may well have been a photo posted earlier of a derelict buiding showing such an effect - brick IIRC.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[petethemole]

Does anyone know when this style of concrete post and railing was introduced?  This photo (my local pub) purports to be dated 1886, but I've also seen it suggested as c1900.  It can't be later than 1903 as the house nearer the camera was demolished and replaced by an extension to the pub that bears that date.  The railings are on a bridge and the LSWR main line is behind the pub.

 

 

[KalKat]

Are you sure they're not timber? They look very smooth in clos(ish) up

 

 

 

Emma

[smokebox]

There are/were some not too far from me and they are/were definitely concrete, not in such good condition, alongside a village road.

 

[Nearholmer]

Precast concrete items, blocks first, then other things, started to be produced in volume from the mid-C19th, although specialist applications had used them from I think c1790. These posts are simple items, and may not contain reinforcement, so could perhaps fit the earlier date, although the later one feels more likely to me.

 

This directory entry is from 1891, and claims ten years track record. It relates to very specialist (autoclave-cured IIRC) concrete castings, very ‘high end’ stuff, so gives some idea of how advanced the industry was by that date. I have another detailed reference to Ransomes process of 1872, which I think used different chemistry. The methods and chemistries used advanced very quickly, and by the early C20th reinforced concrete was quite widely used and pre-stressed concrete was near at hand.

 

I got heavily into all this stuff when researching the Rye Harbour Branch, which was a centre for all sorts of concrete-related industries from a very early date, but confess that I’ve forgotten a lot of the details of what I learned in the intervening forty years!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Philou]

Concrete used in paving slabs must have around for sometime - just look at the number of old station photos showing slabwork. It's too regular to be anything else. IIRC, the first reinforced concrete was used to make flower pots and the idea took seed and it just grew from there. (Late 1800s by Freysinnet (again IIRC)).

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[mike morley]

Former village tap.

St Briavels.  Moat and castle behind.

 

 

Village well.  Still in water. Lots of Hart's Fern inside.  Unfortunately the picture I took looking in was way out of focus. That grid is about five feet tall. Not sure what the tuft of wheat(?) hanging from it signifies.  Also St Briavels.

 

 

Remnants of a chicken coop.

St Briavels common.

 

 

Semi derelict milking shed for cattle.

About 15 yards from the chicken coop.  I doubt if either will be there for much longer because there was a JCB hard at work at the other end of the field they were in and much newly-delivered building materials stacked around.

 

Intriguing one, this.  You often see old rail turned into fence posts and sometimes it is of quite lightweight nature, probably of narrow-gauge origins, but this bulb-head rail is is so dainty it's difficult to imagine what it was originally used for,

The entrance to someone's property on the lane down to Brockweir.

 

Finally, a warning and a plea.

Countless times yesterday we found footpaths so badly overgrown through lack of use that they we had to fight our way through and a few times things got so bad changes of route were forced upon us.  On the return leg (our intended route was St Briavels/Brockweir/along the Wye to opposite Llandogo then angle up through the woods back to St Briavels) nature had reclaimed the path completely - and I don't mean the path had become so overgrown it was impassable: I mean that nature had completely reclaimed the path to the extent that it was impossible to tell a footpath had ever existed.  Four or five times in little more than a mile we found ourselves struggling to fight our way through, looking for paths that had ceased to exist, and we came dangerously close to running out of daylight.

So, everybody, use the country's footpaths while they still exist and by using them help them remain in existence.  Take a pair of secateurs as well as your camera with you, plan plenty of alternative routes in advance and allow far, far more time than you think/hope your walk will actually need.

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by mike morley

[mike morley]

Almost forgot.

Opposite Llandogo

[sir douglas]

there is a path would use everyday until a few months ago when some nasty looking plants were growing so i stoppd using it, now they have died back, the brambles have made it impassable 

[Compound2632]

On 06/08/2021 at 20:16, eastglosmog said:

A memorial seat in Fulbrook Churchyard

 

Careful with those - could end up being your own memorial. I had one collapse under me while on holiday last week. The mortice and tenon joints work loose as the wood ages; if you lean back too heavily the rear post goes with you, no longer being restrained by the arm and the middle bearer.

[Nearholmer]

Yes, there's one visible from our house, and during Lockdown 1 that very thing happened to a guy who sat on it during his "permitted exercise". A neighbour and I made a ridiculous pantomime of attempting to repair it while not becoming "a gathering of more than one household", and thereby illegal* .......... in the end we gave-up because, even using a really strong strap, we couldn't get enough force on it to re-unite the joints, and it had to wait until the Parish Council organised a proper repair by having it taken to a workshop.

 

*Seems utterly weird in retrospect to think how incredibly strict the Lockdown 1 rules were. Even the chap who sat on the seat and had it collapse under him was technically breaking the rules simply by having a rest, rather than exercising.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Nearholmer

[eastglosmog]

58 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Careful with those - could end up being your own memorial. I had one collapse under me while on holiday last week. The mortice and tenon joints work loose as the wood ages; if you lean back too heavily the rear post goes with you, no longer being restrained by the arm and the middle bearer.

Yes indeed. I always check the load bearing capabilities of this sort of seat before sitting on it!

(It would be a bit churlish of me to wish it happened a bit more often to the seat on the grass triangle opposite my house, so as to deter the Saturday night drunks from sitting on it, after they have crawled up the hill from the last train from Oxford.)

[eastglosmog]

2 hours ago, mike morley said:

Snip..............

 

Finally, a warning and a plea.

Countless times yesterday we found footpaths so badly overgrown through lack of use that they we had to fight our way through and a few times things got so bad changes of route were forced upon us.  On the return leg (our intended route was St Briavels/Brockweir/along the Wye to opposite Llandogo then angle up through the woods back to St Briavels) nature had reclaimed the path completely - and I don't mean the path had become so overgrown it was impassable: I mean that nature had completely reclaimed the path to the extent that it was impossible to tell a footpath had ever existed.  Four or five times in little more than a mile we found ourselves struggling to fight our way through, looking for paths that had ceased to exist, and we came dangerously close to running out of daylight.

So, everybody, use the country's footpaths while they still exist and by using them help them remain in existence.  Take a pair of secateurs as well as your camera with you, plan plenty of alternative routes in advance and allow far, far more time than you think/hope your walk will actually need.

 

You should report the problem to Gloucestershire Highways on https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/highways/roads/your-highways-report-it/

They will do something about it.

[petethemole]

2 hours ago, mike morley said:

Village well.  Still in water. Lots of Hart's Fern inside.  Unfortunately the picture I took looking in was way out of focus. That grid is about five feet tall. Not sure what the tuft of wheat(?) hanging from it signifies.  Also St Briavels.

 

That is St. Bridget's well, an ancient well with a medieval structure above it.  The dedication to St, Bridget suggests it was a sacred well in pre-Christian times.  St. Bridget was the Christian version of Brid, or Bride, a Celiic Goddess.  The tuft would have been left as a symbolic offering by a visitor, probably Pagan.

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, mike morley said:

So, everybody, use the country's footpaths while they still exist

 

I periodically devote a fun day to the same entertainment by cycling little-use bridleways (cycling on bridleways is explicitly permitted by The Countryside Act 1968). I've never yet totally surrendered at any point, but I have had to resort to carrying my bike across a few deeply-ploughed, and very wide, fields (farmers have, I think, a fortnight to re-establish a usable way after ploughing), and pushing it through dense shrubbery. Its the most tiring form of cycling I know!

[RJS1977]

1 hour ago, eastglosmog said:

You should report the problem to Gloucestershire Highways on https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/highways/roads/your-highways-report-it/

They will do something about it.

 

Also, any farmer/land owner claiming subsidy under the Basic Payment Scheme and/or Countryside Stewardship/Environmental Stewardship is legally bound to maintain footpaths in a passable condition under the Cross Compliance Regulations (and can potentially be penalised under those schemes if they fail to meet the obligations).

 

Such issues can be raised with Defra by emailing ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk with "Potential Cross Compliance Breach" in the subject line and attaching a map showing the location of the obstruction (and if possible, photographs).

 

Whilst there is no record in the public domain of BPS claimants, areas under the Stewardship schemes can be identified by going to www.magic.gov.uk, zooming in on the field in question, selecting 'Land based schemes' > 'Agri-environment schemes' > 'Countryside Stewardship Agreement Management Areas (England)' and 'Environmental Stewardship Agreement Management Areas (England)' from the left hand menu.

 

If the field is then highlighted, the identity of the claimant and the Agreement reference number can be identified by clicking 'i' at the top of the screen, and then clicking the field.

[corneliuslundie]

Yes, there was one footpath near here which could not have been used at all often in recent months; we made it through and back but it was tiring. And in one case on the Severn Way a farmer had tied a gate across a stile where an adjacent fence was damaged. I simply untied it and retied it afterwards but it was very heavy. Mind you most gates other than those on footpaths seem to rely on baler twine rather than hinges and catches. There is one adjacent to the lane we frequent which is hinged with twine on the post with the catch and tied with more twine to the post with the hinge supports.

We have a voluntary organisation called "Walking Newtown" which publishes leaflets about walks, and if a footpath is not on one of their routes the chances are it is almost impassible.

Sorry no new pics from me this week. The weather has been pretty poor and I am running out of inspiration. Probably nothing next week either as we have family visiting. So keep up the good work.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

3 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

Also, any farmer/land owner claiming subsidy under the Basic Payment Scheme and/or Countryside Stewardship/Environmental Stewardship is legally bound to maintain footpaths in a passable condition under the Cross Compliance Regulations (and can potentially be penalised under those schemes if they fail to meet the obligations

The obligation applies to all rights of way, and isn’t conditional upon subsidy being paid; withdrawal of subsidy is just a quick and easy way to punish non-compliance.

 

My observation is that nearly all farmers are actually very good at meeting their RoW obligations, going beyond them, to make routes easy to use/follow in many cases. Where trouble seems to strike is with non-farmer landowners, especially residents along rural ‘private’ (i.e. not highway authority maintained) roads that are actually RoW of one kind or another; the odd cases of attempted stopping-up, as opposed to neglect*, that I’ve come across, have been where householders are obviously the guilty parties.

 

Mind you, I don’t live in an area where tourism/leisure collides head-on with the needs of locals - some of the scenes from national parks during semi-lockdown make crystal clear how conflict arises.
 

*Bizarrely, Highways England is a champion neglecter of RoW. Where foot or bridle paths cross main roads, there is often a long length of path on their property, and it is usually totally overgrown, nigh-on impassable, although they look after the signs indicating such routes assiduously!

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Nick C]

37 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The obligation applies to all rights of way, and isn’t conditional upon subsidy being paid; withdrawal of subsidy is just a quick and easy way to punish non-compliance.

 

My observation is that nearly all farmers are actually very good at meeting their RoW obligations, going beyond them, to make routes easy to use/follow in many cases. Where trouble seems to strike is with non-farmer landowners, especially residents along rural ‘private’ (i.e. not highway authority maintained) roads that are actually RoW of one kind or another; the odd cases of attempted stopping-up, as opposed to neglect*, that I’ve come across, have been where householders are obviously the guilty parties.

 

Mind you, I don’t live in an area where tourism/leisure collides head-on with the needs of locals - some of the scenes from national parks during semi-lockdown make crystal clear how conflict arises.
 

*Bizarrely, Highways England is a champion neglecter of RoW. Where foot or bridle paths cross main roads, there is often a long length of path on their property, and it is usually totally overgrown, nigh-on impassable, although they look after the signs indicating such routes assiduously!

 

 

I think generally farmers realise it's in their interests to keep footpaths well maintained, as that helps to stop people straying from them and wandering across their fields, trampling crops as they go.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Nick C

[steve1]

Interesting array of brickwork. I wonder if there was a substantial roof restoration?

 

The fence shows some nice weathering too.

 

steve

 

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by steve1
Improved image

[eastglosmog]

On 27/08/2021 at 09:56, steve1 said:

Interesting array of brickwork. I wonder if there was a substantial roof restoration?

 

The fence shows some nice weathering too.

 

steve

 

 

I suspect it was it bit more than roof repair - looks as though the back wall and rear roof have been raised to give a full width upper storey.  There is a slightly different modification on a terrace near here, where the rear slope of the roof has been flattened to take in the extension:

 

As an aside, the 7.5t weight limit sign seems to be invisible to many - judging by the number of times the local town forum has people say the town ought to have a weight limit!

Here is another view where the modifications are a bit clearer:

 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by eastglosmog
Add another photo

[Nearholmer]

While we are on buildings, I snapped this “cheap at half the price” des-res in an estate agent’s window today.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go in and ask for a brochure, to find out which of the four bedrooms was blessed with the gaping hole in the roof.

 

Make a nice model in the Gravett style on the layout, eh?

[heavymetalwagons]

750 thou for some sheds wtf gone wrong with the world

[corneliuslundie]

I shan't be making an offer!

Anyway, for this Monday:

Spotted near Newtown the other day. Not sure if it just backs onto the bank or there is a recess in the bank to accommodate it.

 

A signpost on the Kerry Ridgeway, rather dilapidated and difficult to read with a rather nice coating of various growths – also missing the circular symbol at each end. The left pointing post reads “Kerry Ridgeway” and the right-pointing one reads “Ffordd Las Ceri” (literally "Kerry Green Way”).

 

A bit further on is this rather nice viewing platform. On three sides it has diagrams showing the features visible in the direction. Unfortunately, some goons have been removing the screws holding them in place – I assume that it seemed like fun.

 

Hopefully back in business now the better weather has arrived (though dull today - it must be a bank holiday).

Jonathan

Edited October 2, 2022 by corneliuslundie
typo