Of small towns and museums and walks through narrow streets

I always dreamed of finishing my days on a small Greek island but I am equally drawn to one of the little walled towns somewhere in Italy.

Over the years we have visited quite a few from the impressive city of Bergamo in Lombardy to the smaller settlement of Silvi in the Abrruzzo region and even smaller ones down south.

What they all have going for them is that mix of urban living set just minutes away from the countryside.

And then there are those narrow steep streets which let out on to a tiny piazza with its water fountain, small church and cluster of bars.

All very touristy I know and perhaps in a community of just a few thousand a little claustrophobic but I rather reckon I could live with that.

The downside might be that your rather old underwear flapping on the washing line in the mid day sun might become a topic of conversation amongst the house proud couple at the corner of the block, but the self same people will stop for a conversation shouting up encouragement as you sit on the balcony struggling with an article and gazing across the hills to the sea beyond.

And perhaps it is a scene which does suffer a little from romantic tosh and has to be measured against rising prices, the uncertainty of the Euro and Italian TV which especially on a Sunday bombards you with hours of celebrities, game shows and showcases of the pop music of the 1960s.

But I do like the life style, and the inhabitants are proud enough of their town to want to share it with you.

Here they seem to say is why we like living in this place and we want you to enjoy it too.

And nowhere is this more so than in the tiny little museums often no more than a room off the main piazza which tells the town’s history.

A few fading sepia pictures adorn the walls, a glass cabinet of some treasured artefact's pulled from the ground and a ponderous account of the communes role in the history of the region.

My favourite was the one in Alghero.*  It is one of those little places which owes much to the enthusiasm of its members and is defined by what they have been able to collect.

So if there was a theme or underlying logic to the collection it was just that.  Religious postcards sat beside memorabilia from the time of Italian unification, the Fascist era and the Second World War.  There were mannequins dressed in uniforms a few helmets, some guns and German army magazines from 1943.

Tucked away on one wall was a display dedicated to the Italian resistance against Fascist rule and the German occupation, which fitted with those on Garibaldi and his Red Shirts.

And on some evenings the museum mounted its own live entertainment.  It started with the presence of four of the group dressed in military uniforms from the 1860s with a demonstration of the firepower of their muskets.

In an age of sleek presentations, interactive displays and the ever popular heritage reconstructions there is something quite refreshing in these more simple museums which however amateurish they might appear are close to the people and the towns they record.

Pictures; street scenes from Alghero, Bergamo Silvi from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Sardinia, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Sardinia

The not so nice side of hat making at the Stockport Hat Works Museum

We were at the Hat Works Museum in Stockport recently.  

It is spread over three floors, showcases a range of fashion and utility wear as well as headdresses from around the world.

And because Stockport along with Denton were centres for the manufacture of hats the museum offers up the story of the industry in the north west and of the working lives of the people who made the hats.

These include some wonderful short videos where the people engaged in the business talk about their work along with the harsh conditions and a little of the community spirit, which is not surprising given that whole generations of some families worked alongside each other.

They worked together, and lived beside each other in the small terraced houses in the shadow of the factories.

For a product which looked so elegant and could cost a lot of money, the fashion hat no less than the traditional bowler, and homburg were made at a severe price to the health of the workers.

In the wet room the material was worked in a mix of warm water and diluted acid, while in the dry room the dust and detritus from the fur had to be brushed out of the hair each evening before leaving work.

It was a place where one woman “hated everyday of the four years I spent there,” while another reflected on the danger of hats that span off machines at terrifying speeds.

And yet more than one commented on the fact that it had been a “decent way to make a modest living.”

That said it was an industry which pretty much came to a fairly sudden end.  For this was no slow lingering decline.  In just a few short decades what had provided employment for many shrank to just a few factories.

Now there are various explanations but for those you will have to visit the museum "which takes 
you on a journey through the history of Stockport’s once thriving hatting industry.

The museum is home to a recreated hat factory with some 20 fully restored working Victorian-style machines and a fantastic collection of over 400 hats from around the world.”*

Pictures; the working floor of the museum from the collection of Andrew Simpson


*Hat Works Museum http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/leisureculture/visitstockport/museumsandgalleries/hatworks/?view=Standard

Sulphur ….. a posh holiday resort ….. and more than a few surprises ….. in Harrogate

Now, for any one faced with an indifferent August day with the ever present threat of frequent rain, museums, tea rooms and art galleries become very attractive.

Not that we wouldn’t have made our way to the Royal Pump Room Museum in Harrogate.

Over the years the Turkish Baths have been a place we regularly return to bringing some of our kids as well as the Italian side of the family.

And by extension, once you have done the hot and cold rooms, taken in more than a bit of steam, and enjoyed various rub downs and massages, it makes sense to visit the history of all this “health stuff”.

All of which took us to the Royal Pump Room Museum, which one guide tells me has the “strongest sulphur wells in Europe, where over 15,000 people used to come every summer”, including more than a few Russian Royals as well as politicians and famous writers of the 19th and 20th century.*

As well as a fascinating series of exhibits on the story of the spa, and the science of “taking the waters”, there is an Egyptology section, displays of everyday things and an array of costumes from the 1940s which compliments the story of food and wartime rationing.

Together they provide an interesting backdrop to the development of Harrogate.

And for those who want to follow up on the history of the town just follow the link.**

Location; Harrogate

Pictures; the Royal Pump Room Museum, Harrogate, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* The Royal Pump Room Museum, https://www.visitharrogate.co.uk/business-directory/royal-pump-room-museum

**The Royal Pump Room Museum,Harrogate, https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/royal-pump-room-museum

Buying a newspaper at a Victorian Station in 1896

Even if I didn’t know that this picture was taken on November 23 1896, there would be plenty of clues to its date for any one of the news stories would take you not only to the year but to the month and the day.

And with that you could pretty much get a flavour of what Londoners were reading as they waited for the trains on Victoria Underground Station.

All of which would be fascinating but for me it is the news kiosk itself that draws me in.

The sales philosophy is that simple one of “pile it high and sell it cheap” and here there is all that you might want for a journey, from post cards and books to newspapers and even a framed picture.

The sheer quantity of material is a perfect reminder of the growth of the popular press, the speed with which the news could be brought to the reader and the variety of papers on offer.

And then there are those postcards which in their way were the mobile phone of the age.  With frequent collections and deliveries you could be confident that a card posted locally in the morning would arrive in the afternoon, allowing you to arrange meetings for the same day or announce your arrival for that evening.

But for those tired of the kiosk there was much else to occupy the waiting passenger from the advert “TO TRAVEL CHEAPLY IN AND AROUND LONDON" on the "DISTRICT RAILWAY", to Brown Stout and the Studio.

My own favourite is the one for the Riding School at Earls Court which superficially seems at odds on a modern underground railway station, but people still both wanted and needed to learn to ride.

As the opening page of Mr Savigear’s book* proclaimed this was a school for all “Military classes” [from] “Officers and army candidates” and “where every Militia Officer and every candidate for Woolwich or Sandhurst would find it a great advantage to his career” to attend.  Nor was this all for there were “separate classes for ladies”. 

Of course there is no way of knowing whether any of the five customers at the kiosk that day were interested in riding, all seem far more intent on what was offer on the stall.

But they do present a cross section of the travelling public reflected in the top hats, bowler and flat cap.  And not to be outdone standing with his back to us is the man with the Inverness coat which I think was the type worn by Sherlock Holmes.  Of all our travellers he is the one most likely to be on a long journey given that bag at his feet.

I remember we had something similar, made of soft leater, it was perfect for transporting a few clothes, a book and the odd personal items.

Father bought ours from a second hand shop in Peckham in the early 1950s.  Now the romantic in me would love to speculate on the chances of a match but that is just so much silliness that I shall leave the thought there on the screen.

Now there is plenty more of detail in the picture which is there to explore.

I shall just point out that the image came from the London Transport Museum.  It is a wonderful place which I regularly visit and which has been enjoyed by all our children.  And for any who wants to find out more the link is, http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections.

Location; London

Picture; Victoria Underground Railway Station, November 23 1896, image nu 3478/1, and view of the Museum, courtesy of the London Transport Museum


*Savigear’s Guide to Horsemanship and Horse Training, ed by Lieut.Col. J. Graham, Farmer & Sons, Kensington, 1899

And just to show what our five might have missed by not following the advert to the riding school at Earls Court, here is the opening page of that Guide to Horsemanship and Horse Training and a reminder of the stark contrast between the challenge of "dismounting and mounting at a gallop" and a draughty platform on Victoria Station in 1896.

Of course there is always the mseum with its buses and trams,  posters and photographs along with my favourite an entire carriage of an Underground train.

"London Transport Museum's collection originated in the 1920s, when the London General Omnibus Company decided to preserve two Victorian horse buses and an early motorbus for future generations. The Museum of British Transport opened in an old bus garage in Clapham, south London, during the 1960s, before moving to Syon Park in west London in 1973 as the London Transport Collection.

In 1980, the public displays moved again, this time to occupy the Flower Market building in Covent Garden as the London Transport Museum. In 2002, London Transport became Transport for London and, to reflect this, the Museum changed its name to London's Transport Museum.".  http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections.

Another story from Martin Logan ....... REMEMBERING THE EMPLOYEES OF MANCHESTER CORPORATION TRAMWAYS

The Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire is the home of the National Tramways Museum. 

Wall showing MCT, Leicester Tramways and Salford Tramways Memorials 

The museum provides a journey through the history of trams from horse, steam and electric trams. Its collection of 60 plus, and mostly working, trams from Britain and abroad is second to none.

It also houses an extensive archive of tramway history which takes in the period of the Great War 1914 – 1918. Currently as part of the Centenary of the Great War they have an exhibition titled Arms to Armistice telling the story of the many tramways employees who enlisted, fought and died in that horrific war.

Various trams at the museum

Part of this exhibition is about the Manchester Corporation Tramways WW1 Memorial Plaque.

In July during their Edwardian Weekend celebrations   I was asked to give a talk on my research into the 310 employees on that Plaque. Amongst the attendees were relatives of MCT employees Herbert Berry, died 1918 and George Leonard Collins, died 1918.

The exhibition also contains many artefacts from the Great War as well as film from the period and photos of the tramway employees. It houses a collection of Tramway Memorials dedicated to the hundreds of tramway employees who died during the war.

People in costume

One wall of the exhibition shows photos of the MCT Memorial Plaque, Leicester Tramways Memorial and Salford Tramways Memorial surrounded by the names of some of the 1,193 Tramways employees from 97 Tramway systems who lost their lives in the Great War.

It was a lovely weekend with many people dressed in Edwardian costume.  There were also people dressed in some of the uniforms those volunteers who went to war would have worn.

Many trams were working from double to single deckers carrying people through the Derbyshire countryside.

People in soldiers uniform.

The Tramway Village is open until November.

It is well worth a visit to see all the lovely restored trams in working order travelling up and down the tracks.

During your visit please do go and view the Arms to Armistice exhibition in the museum and remember all those tramways employees who once worked on those lovely trams and who would never come back.

If you have any info on any of the employees on the MCT Memorial Plaque please contact me at martin.logan@btinternet.com or by mobile 07985490124

LEST WE FORGET

Martin Logan,© 2017

Location;The Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire

Pictures; from the collection of Martin Logan

A story from Spain ......... from Emma

Now I like the way the blog crosses countries and continents.

I first met Emma after she had sent me a postcard destined for Chorlton which never left Spain.

It had made its way to a paper factory and there hung a series of stories.

And as ever I asked Emma if she would like to add some stories and pictures, and this is the first, featuring the railway museum near where she lives.

It has to be said that her English is better than my Spanish but with the help of google translate we will there there.

Added to which just for that bit of fun it is being posted twice.  Once in English and once in what I hope is not so bad Spanish.

Well I hope so.

She commented that “the prices are usually too high but it is easy to find weird things and even if only to see the trains it's worth it to see it. 

If you only to see the museum that better not be when it's the fair because one of the trains is coffee shop and you can take something in a wagon of old style.”

And I have to say that her pictures capture perfectly the sort of railway museum I would love to visit.
Here are a selection of the locomotives and rolling stock reflecting everything from the height of luxury down to the messy and dirty end or railways.

And as someone who likes all sorts of museums it is interesting to see how other cities and countries do it.

But of course where ever you go you can be sure that there will a shop and a cafe and that if you have kids you are unlikely to escape without spending lots of money.

So over the next few weeks I will be featuring more of the pictures of the museum and I hope other photographs and stories from Emma.

Pictures; a railway museum, 2016 courtesy of Emma Gilarranz Gutierrez

Places that passed me by .......... nu 1 the Livesey Museum for Children on the Old Kent Road

Now I never knew about the Livesey Museum for Children although I must have passed the building countless times.

It is on the Old Kent Road just past the Gas Works and there the connection begins because once a long time ago it was a free public library provided by Sir George Livesey, benefactor, designer and chairman of the South Metropolitan Gas Company.

He too was someone I never knew anything about and perhaps in time I will dig deep into his life and visit his grave in Nunhead Cemetery.

For the present I know he was connected with the gas company from 1848 till 1908, that there is a public hall and war memorial which bears his name along with a Professorship at the University of Leeds and interestingly enough “was instrumental in introducing a plan for sharing the profits of his company with his employees.”*

That said the plan hides a fascinating little piece of  history in which the initiative may have been  partly motivated by a move against the gas workers’ union, strike in 1889 and i turn the creation of the Telegraph Hill Park.**

Now I don’t know to what extent the creation of the free library in 1890 fits into the picture.

It lasted as a library till 1966 I could have visited it but never did.

Nor did I ever go to the children’s museum which opened in 1974 and showed a completely new exhibition every year aimed at children fewer than 12. Exhibitions explored such themes as Shelter, Energy, and Myths & Legends.

The museum had no permanent collection, but each exhibition featured objects and artwork on loan from Southwark Council's historic collections.

Sadly it closed in 2008 as part of budgetary cuts although the story doesn’t end there and I think this too will be something I return to

And in the meantime I am off to delve deep into the that gas worker's strike.

The history of the Labour movement  has long fascinated me and  and while I have written about the Chartists, the industrial conflicts here in the North and something of the Woolwich Labour Party I have never looked into what went on in Peckham and New Cross.

So I have Mr Livesey to than k for that along with Adam Burgess who first told me about the Livesey Museum and who went off and took the pictures.

Pictures; the Livesy Museum, 2015,  from the collection of Adam Burgess

*Sir George Livesey, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Livesey#CITEREFLayton1920

**The Gas Workers Strike in South London, Mary Mills, 2013, Greenwich Peninsula History, https://greenwichpeninsulahistory.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/the-gas-workers-strike-in-south-london/

Down at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery......... Museums with a history nu 1

Now there are plenty of reasons for visiting Southern Cemetery.

For many of us it will be simply to visit a loved one who has been buried there.

For others it will be the peace and tranquilly of the place with the added bonus of watching the variety of wildlife.

And then there will be those who go to look and learn from the graves.

After all since it was opened it has been the final resting place for the rich and the distinguished as well as a large proportion of people from south Manchester and includes memorials to the fallen of two world wars, the 1980 Tenerife Air Disaster and the Katyn massacre.

So it is perhaps fitting that the cemetery should also host a remarkable museum in the Remembrance Lodge by the main gate.

It is the work of David Harrop who has a fascinating and unique collection of memorabilia from both world wars as well as material spanning the history of the Post Office and much more.

What is particularly important about both the collection and the display in the lodge is that they are drawn from the everyday experiences of the people who lived through the conflicts.

So amongst the medals and official communications from the War Ministry are picture postcards and letters sent from the battle fronts and souvenirs bought to aid the war effort.

And as we enter the 75 anniversary of the Battle of Britain I know that David has plans to commemorate the event with material from his collection.

The Lodge is open seven days a week.

Pictures; the Lodge and some of the exhibition courtesy of David Harrop.

“I sell what all the world desires .......Power” and lots of that can be seen at the Bolton Steam Museum

Now if like me you belong to the generation that remembers travelling by trains pulled by steam locomotives there is something quite magic about those museums devoted to our industrial heritage.

It starts with that smell, a mix of steam, and warm oil, accompanied by the hiss of machines doing their business.

Then as you watch these magnificent engines transforming inert giant wheels and heavy iron beams into graceful and purposeful movement you feel the sense of power and above all admiration at the design and workmanship.

Of course that is so much romantic tosh.  These machines were designed for a purpose and that involved a lot of noise, a fair bit of dirt and more than a bit of danger.

It is easy to forget that machines designed to pump water or power countless textile frames were at the heart of our industrial revolution, and for every graceful steam machine there were relentless hours of hard toil on the part of miners, cotton workers and foundry operatives.

But that is not to diminish the machines themselves and as long as you don’t forget the darker side of working to the rhythm of steam these examples of our technological past are fascinating.

And there is no doubting that back at the end of the 18th century just as today they were impressive not least because of the promise of how they could transform our world.

So when Mathew Boulton was introduced to King George 111 and was asked what he did, Boulton simply replied, “Sire I sell what all the world desires .......Power.”

And that is just what I get when I see these machines, which is why I shall be visiting the Bolton Museum of Steam.  It has the largest collection of working steam engines in the UK and is free to visit, although they will not say no to a donation.

And given the large number of machines they have rescued and restored I think that is a small thing to ask.

The museum is located on "Morrison’s Atlas Mills, Supermarket site, next to the petrol station on Mornington Road, off Chorley Old Road."*

Now I could go on but the museum’s web site does it much better, so I suggest you call it up and like me make plans to visit.

And because the best time to see these machines is when they are working, steam days for 2014 are Sunday and Monday 24th and 25th August, Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th September, Sunday and Monday 28th and 29th December.

Pictures; courtesy of Bolton Steam Museum

*Bolton Steam Museum, http://www.nmes.org/ 

The museum is located on Morrison’s Atlas Mills, Supermarket site, next to the petrol station on Mornington Road, off Chorley Old Road*, Bolton, BL1 4EU, situated 1.5 miles north-west of Bolton town centre on bus routes No 125 (Stagecoach) & No 519(First Bus) which run on Chorley Old Road (B6226)

A little bit of the Romans in Bristol

Now I am not sure how many people read the blog in Bristol or for that matter the south west, but that won’t stop me announcing a new exhibition on ROMAN EMPIRE ‘POWER & PEOPLE from September 21st till January at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery*

I am hoping that we will get down to see it, after all it's just about three hours from Chorlton and there are also our close friends Lois and Barri just down the road in Weston, so we shall see.

"Roman Empire: Power and People brings together over 160 stunning pieces from the British Museum to explore the story of one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen.  

Highlights include sculpture from the villas of the Emperors Tiberius and Hadrian, coins from the famous Hoxne treasure, beautiful jewellery and even near-perfectly preserved children’s clothing from Roman Egypt. 

The exhibition explores the wealth, power and organisation of the Empire, but also how the Romans viewed their provinces and other peoples. Religious, military and personal objects give an insight into the lives of people across the Empire, from northern Britain to Egypt and the Middle East. These fascinating objects show how the influences of the many people and places that the Romans came into contact with were absorbed and adapted into the Empire.

The exhibition debuts at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and is the only stop in the south-west before touring the UK.

With thanks to Exhibition Sponsors Brewin Dolphin and Bond Dickinson and Education Sponsor Bristol Water. 

Roman Empire: Power & People is supported through the generosity of the Dorset Foundation. The exhibition has been developed in partnership with Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives and The British Museum."

So not one to miss then.

*Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Queens Road Bristol, BS8 1R http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/leisure-and-culture/roman-empire-power-and-people

Poster Art 150 – London Underground’s Greatest Designs

And here is an announcement from the London Transort Museum

Until 5 January 2014

"By popular demand the Museum’s blockbuster exhibition Poster Art 150 – London Underground’s Greatest Designs has been extended until 5 January 2014.

Entry to the exhibition is included in price of admission.

Since its first graphic poster commission in 1908, London Underground has developed a worldwide reputation for commissioning outstanding poster designs, becoming a pioneering patron of poster art - a legacy that continues today.

Our new blockbuster exhibition Poster Art 150 – London Underground’s Greatest Designs, will showcase 150 of the greatest Underground posters ever produced. 

Supported by Siemens, and forming part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the London Underground, the exhibition will feature posters by many famous artists including Edward McKnight Kauffer and Paul Nash, and designs from each decade over the last 100 years. 

The posters were selected from the Museum’s archive of over 3,300 Underground posters by a panel of experts; the 150 that will appear in the exhibition show the range and depth of the Museum’s collection. 

Poster Art 150 is a fitting exhibition to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the world’s first underground railway, as the last major Underground poster retrospective was held in 1963 to celebrate the centenary of the Underground. 

Well-known posters, including the surrealist photographer Man Ray’s ‘Keeps London Going’ pair, will feature alongside lesser-known gems. The exhibition will also offer a rare opportunity to view letter-press posters from the late nineteenth century.

The exhibition focuses on six themes:

Finding your way includes Underground maps and etiquette posters. It also includes posters carrying messages to reassure passengers by showing them what the Underground is like.

London Transport Museum
Covent Garden Piazza
London, WC2E 7BB
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions

Our history through the post,........ the British Postal Museum & Archive

Now I have been a fan of the British Postal Museum and Archive since they helped me out with some research into the type of early telegraph system which operated in the township on the Row in the mid 19th century.

They can be accessed at http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/ and they produce a wonderful news letter. Mine arrived today and contains a review of the BBC Radio 4 The People’s Post which I featured last year, in a story about the Postal workers Strike, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/12/postal-workers-strike-of-1890-and.html and articles on The Great Train Robbery, the Culture of Letters, the history of Christmas cards, and the History of the GPO Film Unit.

And now they have a blog at http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/ My favourite so far is the story posted on Janaury 23 2012 on the GPO film Night Mail

Picture; Night Mail from the blog of the British Postal Museum & Archive