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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2011 23:03:16 GMT
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Post by mich64 on Apr 30, 2011 23:21:59 GMT
Really fun report Rita. The kitchen photos interested me quite a bit. The vegetable garden being boxed in by hedges, is this still common? Is it to help control pests? Really interesting Museum.
Cheers,
Mich
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Post by bixaorellana on May 1, 2011 3:25:14 GMT
Completely fascinating, Rita. I can see why you got tickets that allow you to go back.
I looked at the website, but what's the story behind having that huge area for a museum, including what appears to be a ghost town?
Gad -- the mine! I think the picture I found most evocative was the one with the hand-turned drill sticking into the rock. Was it low-ceilinged because it's a mine, or because people used to be smaller?
I notice that in the photo of Pockerly Manor's exterior, it seems quite low in relation to the modern people around it. The interior, especially "the south-facing warm rooms", reminded me a great deal of the plantation houses around where I'm from, built in the late 17- and 1800s. But the front of the house & the long view over the vegetable garden are so beautifully English.
The coal-sorting and transport section is really interesting. What's the big long thing with the round iron door on it?
What a great touch to have people working there and dressed in the style of the period.
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Post by bjd on May 1, 2011 6:22:32 GMT
Interesting to see an entire village rebuilt like this. It gives a good idea of how people used to live. It provides a visual setting for novels of the period.
However,since they were certainly using coal fires at the time, I think they could have made an effort to provide more polluted air to give an authentic touch!
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Post by onlymark on May 1, 2011 9:00:25 GMT
I went there a few times and always enjoyed a visit, nice to see it again. Lovely photos.
Bixa, the mine is low purely for structural reasons and usually a mine, apart from the access tunnels, will only be as big as necessary for the machinery used and/or the seam of coal.
The big long thing, if we mean the same thing - a shed type structure with a man in it - looks like a converted old train boiler.
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Post by patricklondon on May 1, 2011 13:21:43 GMT
I bet you wouldn't say that if you had to clean out the ashes and blacklead it at 6am!
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 14:28:50 GMT
That really seems like an outstandingly well preserved and/or reconstructed historical town, but it certainly doesn't make me wish for the "good old days."
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Post by lola on May 1, 2011 15:20:49 GMT
Excellent report and photos, Rita. I'd like to visit there. Am trying hard to stop myself from remark about Beamish boys.
I could live like that just fine, have done so less grandly, except I would prefer modern dentistry and antibiotics. The trick, if you can swing it, is to be the gentry sleeping in south facing rooms.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 15:24:08 GMT
I think it is the schoolroom followed by the job at the coal mine that turned me away from nostalgia.
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Post by imec on May 1, 2011 18:30:47 GMT
Oh! This looks like a fantastic place! What's the cool little black structure (second pic in the Wagonway section)?
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Post by lola on May 1, 2011 19:48:18 GMT
I wouldn't have to worry about school or the mines; they'd probably make me an illiterate pig girl or something.
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Post by onlymark on May 1, 2011 19:53:10 GMT
I think it is the schoolroom followed by the job at the coal mine that turned me away from nostalgia. If you carry over exactly the same cast iron bench/desks as the middle row in the classroom (apart from having two inkwells) plus the open fire in the corner - but a bit more modern decoration - you'd have my old classroom. And then after leaving school, guess where I got my first job? Lola - you'd have left to either work in service or gone into a mill no doubt. |
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Post by onlymark on May 1, 2011 20:10:17 GMT
Just to add a couple of details, pass on if your not interested -
Picture 4 of the mine - it looks like there is a drill being used to make a hole in the coal seam. It probably is a 'shot firers' drill, hand cranked, to bore out a hole to place the dynamite charge (a 'shot') that will fetch down a section of the face. It's a lot easier to shovel up loose coal than have to break it out with a pick and then shovel it. Rarely would just one hole be made, a group of them would be lined up and fired together.
Image 7 - two cages (lifts/elevators) side by side, a fairly normal set up - as one goes up, the other goes down. It's a long while since I've been to Beamish but you wouldn't normally have cages at a drift mine. The cables would run over the 'headstocks', the wheels you can see at image 5 on top of the red building. The stone building behind it would be called the Winding House.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 22:46:42 GMT
Really fun report Rita. The kitchen photos interested me quite a bit. The vegetable garden being boxed in by hedges, is this still common? Is it to help control pests? Really interesting Museum. Cheers, Mich Some people use box hedging rather than fencing if they have the space, nicer on the eye don't you think. I don't think it helps control pests, but I could be wrong, it acts as a good wind break though! |
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 23:09:30 GMT
Completely fascinating, Rita. I can see why you got tickets that allow you to go back. I looked at the website, but what's the story behind having that huge area for a museum, including what appears to be a ghost town? Gad -- the mine! I think the picture I found most evocative was the one with the hand-turned drill sticking into the rock. Was it low-ceilinged because it's a mine, or because people used to be smaller? I notice that in the photo of Pockerly Manor's exterior, it seems quite low in relation to the modern people around it. The interior, especially "the south-facing warm rooms", reminded me a great deal of the plantation houses around where I'm from, built in the late 17- and 1800s. But the front of the house & the long view over the vegetable garden are so beautifully English. The coal-sorting and transport section is really interesting. What's the big long thing with the round iron door on it? What a great touch to have people working there and dressed in the style of the period. The story behind having such a huge area for a museum is (taken from a brochure I picked up there) - The beginnings of Beamish go back to 1970, when Frank Atkinson, first Director and founder, and his small band of colleagues first came to Beamish. The idea, however, to establish an 'open air museum' of the Scandinavian type goes back to 1958, when Frank had just been appointed Director of Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle, a museum largely concerned with continental, fine and applied art. Frank's interests were much wider than this. He realised that the North East region was changing dramatically, the old industries of coal-mining, shipbuilding and iron and steel manufacture were disappearing along with the communities that served them. "It is essential" he said, "that collecting be carried out quickly and on as big a scale as possible. It is now almost too late". He was most concerned that the region was losing its identity, "customs, traditions and ways of speech" were dying out. Frank proposed that the new museum would "illustrate vividly the way of life... of the ordinary people", and would "attempt to make the history of the region live". The 'modern person' at the entrance to the Manor is my husband - he is 6'4" Bixa! ;D The big long thing with the round iron door on it is a steam engine aka steam locomotive. |
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Post by mich64 on May 2, 2011 0:19:20 GMT
Thanks Rita, I do think they are attractive and indeed would serve as a wind break. You have actually given me an idea. Today we have very strong north winds from the lake and it makes gardening challenging. We have to find plants that can take the exposure we have here. Thus, planting the box hedges would expand my options. Thanks for the idea!
Cheers,
Mich
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Post by auntieannie on May 2, 2011 18:50:47 GMT
I absolutely love love love that type of museum. One more to add to the list!
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2011 22:38:36 GMT
Oh! This looks like a fantastic place! What's the cool little black structure (second pic in the Wagonway section)? D'you know imec I asked exactly the same question...  it's part of an old steam train (I've now idea what the technical name is for that part) put to good use as a place for the the workers to sit and rest and shelter from the worst of the weather.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2011 22:51:59 GMT
Thanks Rita, I do think they are attractive and indeed would serve as a wind break. You have actually given me an idea. Today we have very strong north winds from the lake and it makes gardening challenging. We have to find plants that can take the exposure we have here. Thus, planting the box hedges would expand my options. Thanks for the idea! Cheers, Mich Well there you go Mich!  Yew Taxus baccata would make a brilliant wind break too, but it is very slow growing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxus_baccata |
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