Oop North revisited

[Horus]

Knowing of Grandads intended visit ‘up North’ a few weeks ago to a location not that far away from me, I had hesitated in posting anything about the place myself until he had made his report and uploaded any images he had taken at the time. As you probably guessed we exchanged a few emails prior to his visit and I attempted to put a few suggestions his way, unfortunately his own itinerary was determined by his available dates, but we did manage to time a visit to the Jesse Shirley’s Flint & Bone Mill at Etruria in Staffordshire as he was keen to see the old Beam Engine ‘Princess’ in full steam.

Sadly these firings are now somewhat rare so he was fortunate that one such occasion fitted in with his visit. The location of this mill is on the intersection of the Trent & Mersey and the Caldon canals, the later being fed by several reservoirs one being ‘Rudyard Lake’ this lake having a connection to the poet Rudyard Kipling who’s parents named him after the famous beauty spot. The Caldon canal runs through some picturesque countryside and at one point joins the river Churnet to service another (now restored) working Flint Mill at a place called Cheddleton, it has a working water wheel and can be visited.

I know that it can be very difficult in taking any images around Princess as it has restricted access and many visitors to jossle out of the way and in Grandads case a very difficult ladder access to get to the top where you can see the actual 'beam' of the engine in motion. To that end I have included a video showing around the mill workings themselves where all the equipment you see is driven by Princess herself and later on the engine and shots of the beam above.



In case you are all wondering what those two twirling red ball thingies are, it is a device invented by James Watt of steam engine fame and is known as a Centrifugal governor. Its purpose is to control the engines speed, it does this by closing the steam valve as the balls fly outwards because the centrifugal force lifts them upwards, as the speed drops then the balls go inwards and lower thus opening the steam valve again. I know this sounds rude, but it is the only way to describe it.

Back at the junction in Etruria they also hold an annual ‘Canal Festival’ unfortunately a bit late for Grandads visit, I often go for a visit myself depending on how good the weather is at the time. It has lots of canal related activities plus a fairground with lots of stalls and more barges than you can shake a stick at and usually Princess will be in steam. I have posted images of this event before, but will add some here again later to support this post.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Interesting video clip H. That place would be fascinating to see now and was probably more interesting way back when. I'd be way MORE interested though in seeing what came out of the kilns I love poking my nose into the Kiln at the Pottery Studio I go to here. Always a treat to see all the glazes and colours coming out.

The last lady who ran the studio would take everything out of the Kiln at all odd hours and pile stuff everywhere. This lady takes everything out and stacks it all on the back table every week so we can all get a change to see what was fired that week. Helps too to be able to see it all and then be able to ask 'what glaze did you use? How did you achieve that effect?"

On another note - I do wonder though way way way way way back when - who first figured out how to grind up bones with other substances to get bone china and then refine it down (although I see people always intent on making something better and better). Following the evolution of pottery from dirt blocks to refined bone china would be an interesting study. Might just have to think about doing that .......

[Horus]

The idea behind Staffordshire 'China Clay' was our attempt to mimic the Chinese Porcelein for its delicacy and translucence.

[LovelyLadyLux]

It is one thing to MAKE china or pottery then it is another to make standardized glazes - at least in the studio I go to seems the glazes morph into all manner of different colours every time they go into one of the old kilns there.

[Horus]

LLL, glazes are different to clay and are produced by grinding 'Frit' which contain the various colours. Plus as you may well know, the finished colour is often a product of the firing temperature used at the time.

[Grandad]

I hope you don't mind me chipping in on your thread H.

I have always admired the skill of the potters and the decorators. Many years ago we collected wares by R H & S L Plant of Tuscan Works, Longton, Stoke on Trent. We did have other pieces but mainly Tuscan Wares. In the nineties our house was cluttered so we disposed of most of our collection at a local auction house, just keeping a few as mementos. Here are a few examples that went with the rest at auction, mostly in mixed boxes.
This finely decorated and guilded dish is from Plants Tuscan Wares

DSCF0069.JPG

We had quite a large collection of individual coffee cans. This is from Royal Worcester

0902160023.JPG

This cream jug and sugar basin, for one, is from Royal Doulton

20070728 1502 Doulton Cream Jug and Sugar Basin 2.JPG

[Kiya]

Love the Doulton set , such an unusual shape of sugar dish, I would have kept that

[Horus]

Anyway, back at the junction in Etruria where they also hold an annual ‘Canal Festival’ so on the right dates you can visit the Flint & Bone Mill plus see a few more things of interest and the festival is free to visit.

[Grandad]

WOW! Great set of pictures H.
Didn't look anything like that when we were there. It was very nice and peaceful with just the occasional boat coming through the lock. I would really enjoy going when that event is on, very colourful.
The blacksmith is the same lady who was smithing when we were there, big lady
We didn't need to use the bridge because there is another entrance the other side of the canal. Only a few blue badge spaces there which were occupied but we drove to the front of the visitor centre and they let us park there as long as we were well to the side and not obstructing. That was appreciated and we liked the helpful attitude "You can just park over there but don't cause an obstruction"

Edit: Just checked this years dates, Saturday and Sunday 1st and 2nd of June. That does happen to be at the end of half term (my daughter is a classroom assistant) so, who knows, I might be able to persuade them to take another trip 'Oop north'

[LovelyLadyLux]

Am out and on Kindle right now so more later but fantastic photos H

[Kiya]

Fantastic photos Horus, lovely and colourfull

It's annoying not having the arrow to click through all the photos instead of back with each one, sometimes its there sometimes not

[Grandad]

Kiya, I believe we only get the arrow to advance through pictures in a post IF the pictures were dragged and dropped into the post. Pictures that are uploaded into an album and then inserted into a post via the BBcode do not have the slideshow arrows.
What I miss most is the ability to return to a post by clicking on an image from that post that I have opened to view. We now have to use a back arrow unless there is another method to get back to the post that I have not yet found.

[Kiya]

@Grandad Ok, thanks for that info

[Horus]

Yes folks there are still a few differences that we all have to either find out about or get used to, but overall I think we have done very well to have a completely new forum with very few glitches and working very much as it did before, thanks to Keefy's efforts.

[Grandad]

@Horus
Horus, I sowed the seed with my daughter this morning (whoops, that didn't sound right ) for a trip up to see the Canal Festival. She will sound out her husband BUT I would lay at least even money that he will be, up for it, because they do enjoy being around the canals. So, fingers crossed. It is also the last weekend of half term holiday so the odds have just improved even more

[LovelyLadyLux]

@Horus - in photos #2 and #5 off the black chimney stacks there is something gold hanging. I can't see it - but - are those horse brasses? Is that just decorative or it is something utilitarian? I don't see the same on the other boat(s) but I do see like rivets on the other chimney.

[Horus]

We can always rely on you LLL to ask the most obscure questions but it does show that you take in all the details
They are not 'Horse brasses' although they do have a similar look about them, they are known as 'Chimney Chains' and once served the basic job of securing the narowboat's chimney, either when fitted upright and in use, or more often when they had to be removed when entering low 'legging tunnels' such as the famous Harcastle Tunnel of which I have posted images of on here before. As with many aspects of canal barges they were often decorated by their proud owners to make them homely as usually the bargees wife and family travelled with them as they worked, castles and roses were a common feature and that design can be seen on the open doors in the image looking inside the barge with the brass kettles on display. Like many of these things that were at one time just a practical piece of chain to retain the chimney they became more elaborate as time passed, a very plain 9 link antique one would cost you over £100 to buy today.