Castle Aching

[phil_sutters]

" I  suspect not.  My usual solution to anything to big for CA - so far, live-stock market, gas works, maltings, egg depot, and Great Yarmouth Drill Hall - is to place it at Achingham, however, a bandstand might be pushing my luck. 

 

There would certainly be such a bandstand at the elegant seaside resort of Birchoverham Next The Sea, which, in order to justify the volume of through traffic to the West Norfolk, is becoming in my imagination something more of the grandeur of Victorian Cromer, than Wells."

 

Can't do you Cromer, but Yarmouth & Gorleston had contrasting styles

 

 

[St Enodoc]

Well, some of you may know of my music tastes: my youtube playlist starts with this:

 

and ends with this:

 

with these featuring in the middle:

 

So I approve of a bandstand wholeheartedly! Question is whether Castle Aching is home to a Wind Band, Concert Band, Brass Band or Silver Band...

 

Missenden is happy to lend his services to the Euphonium section.

Now we're talking.

 

One of the joys of Test Match Saturdays at Lord's used to be the band of Christ's Hospital - in uniform - marching and playing during the lunch interval. Sussex by the Sea was always their closing number.

 

"Brassed Off" was a lovely film. Up there with Local Hero in my book.

 

Try the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble if you haven't already heard them: http://www.fineartsbrass.co.uk/

[Edwardian]

True (even though electric power was first introduced to the UK in 1888)

 

 

 

CA hasn't even got town gas in 1905.

 

My father grew up, in the '40s-'50s, in a village house in Leicestershire.  They had electricity, but only downstairs!  He took a candle up to bed and read by it.

 

Apparently, only the village doctor had a motor-car.

[Nearholmer]

That view of Gorleston is almost precisely how I envisage Shepherd’s Port, except that the hotel is not an such an eminence, and the right hand turret has a distinct lean, resulting from all the things that went wrong in design and construction of the foundations.

 

Of course, there are no visitors, and everything is very heavily weatherbeaten, tatty/rusty. The band-stand is a sad relic, having only hosted that one concert on the opening day, and is mostly a seagull perch.

[Edwardian]

That view of Gorleston is almost precisely how I envisage Shepherd’s Port, except that the hotel is not an such an eminence, and the right hand turret has a distinct lean, resulting from all the things that went wrong in design and construction of the foundations.

 

Of course, there are no visitors, and everything is very heavily weatherbeaten, tatty/rusty. The band-stand is a sad relic, having only hosted that one concert on the opening day, and is mostly a seagull perch.

 

I had not thought the hotel would be that grand, but I am happy to learn that it was!

 

And a desolate, bird-stained bandstand!

 

Much will depend upon when the abortive development in the line and the resort was undertaken.  That will help to pin down the architecture.

[Nearholmer]

Red

 

Electricity was alive, and well, and humming in Britain plenty before 1888.

 

Strangely, Godalming was the first town to have electric lighting of the streets and houses, and the London Edison Company power station in Holborn was commission ed in 1882, and they are 'highlights' because they involved a 'central generating station', there were plenty of tiny little islands of dynamo electric power back to c1873, when the first practical self-exciting direct current machine became available.

 

And, if you look at low-voltage, very light current, applications, telegraphy pre-dated even these.

 

In this context, it is notable that seaside resorts were early adopters, using electric light displays to both increase the paying day-length, and increase the paying season-length. Blackpool was the epicentre of this, of course, starting in 1879 IIRC, but maybe Birchoverham got in the act, only Edwardian knows.

 

Railway-wise, we still have an electric railway that opened in its first form in 1883, The Volks.

 

All DC at first, because nobody quite knew what to do with AC before Tesla and his Italian predecessors came along.

 

Kevin

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

Gorleston Cliff Hotel, 1898-1915 (it burnt own): http://www.thecliffhotel.co.uk/cliff-hotel-history/#gallery/4/

[Nearholmer]

Edwardian

 

The Shepherd's Port Grand Hotel was really only grand for less than one season, Easter to August 1897.

 

The railway had been extended to it, from Wolfringham 'harbour', the great junketing had taken place, the staff stood about in penguin suits, waiting to serve the absent visitors, and then the foundation of the east turret began to subside. A crack opened in the frontage, causing a stiff sea breeze to wilt the best aspidistra, and, by the time of CA in 1905, Mr O'Doolite was the sole residential guest, unable to tear himself away from the already crumbling edifice that had become such a terrible stain on his record, like a man who can't let alone a skin-infection that is destined never to heal.

 

But, we'd better not revive Mr O'Doolite's memory, because every time we do, his feud with the shadowy Missenden is reignited , besides which point, his present whereabouts are still shrouded in mystery.

 

K

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

Edwardian

 

The Shepherd's Port Grand Hotel was really only grand for less than one season, Easter to August 1897.

 

The railway had been extended to it, from Wolfringham 'harbour', the great junketing had taken place, the staff stood about in penguin suits, waiting to serve the absent visitors, and then the foundation of the east turret began to subside. A crack opened in the frontage, causing a stiff sea breeze to wilt the best aspidistra, and, by the time of CA in 1905, Mr O'Doolite was the sole residential guest, unable to tear himself away from the already crumbling edifice that had become such a terrible stain on his record, like a man who can't let alone a skin-infection that is destined never to heal.

 

But, we'd better not revive Mr O'Doolite's memory, because every time we do, his feud with the shadowy Missenden is reignited , besides which point, his present whereabouts are still shrouded in mystery.

 

K

 

I am sure there must have been some effort to erect a splendid fin-de-siècle station there?

 

The Shadowy Missenden - hard to spot, as no doubt playing the role of some eminently respectable citizen, hiding in plain sight, but look for a man who can hood his eyes like a hawk, and you will have found the éminence grise of international espionage himself!  

[Nearholmer]

I must draw this to your attention, because I'm fairly sure that Mr O'Doolite must have heard of this when he was a child, and perhaps been influence by it the way that children sometimes are by morbid things.

 

https://architexturez.net/pst/az-cf-167930-1426061612

 

I only found out about it very recently, and was impressed by how close the title was to what I'd come up with.

[Edwardian]

I must draw this to your attention, because I'm fairly sure that Mr O'Doolite must have heard of this when he was a child, and perhaps been influence by it the way that children sometimes are by morbid things.

 

https://architexturez.net/pst/az-cf-167930-1426061612

 

I only found out about it very recently, and was impressed by how close the title was to what I'd come up with.

 

Oh yes, this is extraordinary.

 

It featured in a radio series on things that didn't get built - they pop it back on Radio Iplayer from time to time.

[phil_sutters]

True (even though electric power was first introduced to the UK in 1888)

 

"Hey, look at us! We have a rock band whose members won't be born for another 40-odd years!"

I thought Volk's Electric Railway was opened using a 50 volt supply in 1883. That was increased to 160 volt a year or so later. Eighty years later Dad took a photo!

[Hroth]

I'm not going to post the pic again, but Volk's best one is the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, that ran along the beach, or even through the tide between 1896 and 1901.  Electric too!

 

Oh ok, if I must...

 

 

Its a pity we can't call it a Volk's Wagon.........

 

As for the Metropolitan Sepulchre, its a good thing it wasn't built. Imagine the mess if it had got bombed in the 1940s.  Of course there was the Necropolitan Railway, that could have done with a bit more development, and as London grew, faster expresses to cemetries and crematoria further out of town.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Hroth

[Nearholmer]

There were two necropolis railway services from London: the quite well known one from Waterloo; and, another, from Kings Cross. http://stcnsg.org.uk/cemetery1954/index.htm

 

Possibly not enough traffic of such a kind on the WNR to merit dedicated rolling-stock or trains, although the Festiniog had the former, and there was a horses-tramway in Argentina (I may have the wrong country, but I'm pretty sure the right continent) that had both.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

Possibly not enough traffic of such a kind on the WNR to merit dedicated rolling-stock or trains, 

 

... but a corpse van from one of the adjacent main-line companies might be justified - perhaps bringing the remains of some long-lost Erstwhile to be interred in the family tomb.

[Regularity]

My father grew up, in the '40s-'50s, in a village house in Leicestershire.  They had electricity, but only downstairs!  He took a candle up to bed and read by it.

 

Apparently, only the village doctor had a motor-car.

 

Coalville hasn't changed much, then...

[RedGemAlchemist]

... but a corpse van from one of the adjacent main-line companies might be justified - perhaps bringing the remains of some long-lost Erstwhile to be interred in the family tomb.

And this is why the Bradleigh family mausoleum is in the gardens of the family home of Hewe Hall. That and an old tradition of the spirits of their ancestors looking after them and all that. 

Edited May 22, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[runs as required]

Back from an thoroughly interesting visit to 'the largest English island in the Irish Sea' and I find CA to have taken a promisingly unexpected turn aside:

 

1. Perhaps PD James's novel 'Children of Men' might be the inspiration for special "Over Sixties" Restaurant Car excursions run by the WNR to Southwold, (via Halesworth). 

Suitably eligible parishioners need only purchase a single ticket (on presentation of birth certificate at the booking offce)

2

I will always be grateful for Gorleston on Sea station being kept open for long enough for me to blast apart the former Edmonson ticket office with the insertion of the prototype BR supposedly ‘standard glass ticket office front’ incorporating a circular tension metal ring for a transparent speech diaphragm and stainless steel coin dispenser.

The Stationmaster was a wonderful man* - the British Museum’s prized translator of Egyptian hieroglyphics. So as not to distract him, as a sinecure, Gerry Fiennes of “I tried to Run a Railway” fame, had found him this quiet inoffensive little station (as indeed I’d been safely tidied away to).
He and his wife were from Glossop Derbyshire where he’d joined the GCR as a boy in 1920 - having attended the school where my future wife was a teacher.

dh

*with extraordinary patience too - he gently explained I'd labelled all my drawings the wrong way round - with up facing London southwards and not northwards  via Melton Constable. All the little 'checked and countersigned' boxes at the bottom of my sheets had escaped management scrutiny

 

Ed I do apologise if I have posted here about 'my' stationmaster before. I'd really love to be able to research a piece worthy of his memory.

Edited June 21, 2018 by runs as required

[Edwardian]

Back from an thoroughly interesting visit to 'the largest English island in the Irish Sea' and I find CA to have taken a promisingly unexpected turn aside:

 

 

 

And how was Sodor?

 

There were two necropolis railway services from London: the quite well known one from Waterloo; and, another, from Kings Cross. http://stcnsg.org.uk/cemetery1954/index.htm

 

Possibly not enough traffic of such a kind on the WNR to merit dedicated rolling-stock or trains, although the Festiniog had the former, and there was a horses-tramway in Argentina (I may have the wrong country, but I'm pretty sure the right continent) that had both.

 

Poor Mr O'D.  Mind you, that is a fascinating article on the Colney Hatch cemetery line.

 

 

Coalville hasn't changed much, then...

 

And, bless you for it, neither have you!

 

However, I think I may now draw together two of the disparate strands of this topic if I remark that I wouldn't be seen dead in Coalville.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Edwardian

[runs as required]

And how was Sodor?

Aptly named I suppose

But all trace of the rail connection onto the island (across the existing bascule bridge ?) has long disappeared.

dh

[Nearholmer]

Which made me look-up Port Soderick.

 

It has possibly the funniest Wikipedia entry in existence, which makes Shepherd’s Port seem like thriving resort. I bet the IoM Tourist Board love this.

 

“Port Soderick is a small hamlet to the south of Douglas, capital of the Isle of Man, once famed for its pleasure grounds and beach. In latter years there have been various attempts to rejuvenate the area, all of which have been unsuccessful to date.

 

The beach area has its own small promenade and hotel (latterly named "The Anchor" but now closed and abandoned), a suspended walkway (now closed and deemed unsafe), former oyster beds and Sealion-pool, large building formerly housing an amusement arcade, paddling pool (long since filled in by shingle from the incoming tide ........

 

......... The site has limitations mainly associated with decay of the building structures due to lack of maintenance and vandalism and the general deterioration of the old coastal walkways. In addition there is no sewer connection at the site and the sea outfall has long been destroyed.“

 

The railway station is very pleasant; rather glad I missed the rest!

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

I am sure there must have been some effort to erect a splendid fin-de-siècle station there?

 

 

Edwardian

 

The Shepherd's Port Grand Hotel was really only grand for less than one season, Easter to August 1897.

 

The railway had been extended to it, from Wolfringham 'harbour', the great junketing had taken place, the staff stood about in penguin suits, waiting to serve the absent visitors, and then the foundation of the east turret began to subside. A crack opened in the frontage, causing a stiff sea breeze to wilt the best aspidistra, and, by the time of CA in 1905, Mr O'Doolite was the sole residential guest, unable to tear himself away from the already crumbling edifice that had become such a terrible stain on his record, like a man who can't let alone a skin-infection that is destined never to heal.

 

But, we'd better not revive Mr O'Doolite's memory, because every time we do, his feud with the shadowy Missenden is reignited , besides which point, his present whereabouts are still shrouded in mystery.

 

K

 

 

Puts me in mind, in a number of respects, of Bexhill West.

 

About the right period (1902), and something of an extravagant folly ....

 

Failure to produce the expected return for its investment in its smart new facilities at Shepherd's Port might explain the number of second-hand locos that are found in the WNR roster around the turn of the century.  before that, they generally bought new.

 

It took until 1905 for the line to be back on its feet.

[Annie]

Which made me look-up Port Soderick.

 

It has possibly the funniest Wikipedia entry in existence, which makes Shepherd’s Port seem like thriving resort. I bet the IoM Tourist Board love this.

 

“Port Soderick is a small hamlet to the south of Douglas, capital of the Isle of Man, once famed for its pleasure grounds and beach. In latter years there have been various attempts to rejuvenate the area, all of which have been unsuccessful to date.

 

The beach area has its own small promenade and hotel (latterly named "The Anchor" but now closed and abandoned), a suspended walkway (now closed and deemed unsafe), former oyster beds and Sealion-pool, large building formerly housing an amusement arcade, paddling pool (long since filled in by shingle from the incoming tide ........

 

......... The site has limitations mainly associated with decay of the building structures due to lack of maintenance and vandalism and the general deterioration of the old coastal walkways. In addition there is no sewer connection at the site and the sea outfall has long been destroyed.“

 

The railway station is very pleasant; rather glad I missed the rest!

The Abandoned Places website has pictures.  Words that are the complete opposite of 'desirable' and 'appealing' immediately come to mind.

[Northroader]

Some seaside resorts do have that je ne sais quoi,https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bBZUjgMep94

[Nearholmer]

It needs to be more remote, desolate, and visibly unsuccessful really.

 

Can I offer Allhallows as an alternative white elephant, if a rather later one? Talk about the last resort!

 

Or Port Victoria, where the crumbling infrastructure was a pier, rather than an hotel? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dYOvOM7bsB4

 

Mind you, it’s your railway, so if you would like a lavish folly of a station building, who am I to argue.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nearholmer