Tramming it in Ulm

Now it’s slim pickings when you come to look for information on the tram network in the German city of Ulm.

But then it only operates two lines with one site boasting “Our strength: short distances”.*

That said it still has 22 trams and operates over 15 miles, with one of its destinations the Science Park.

Of course, when my travelling chum sent over his picture I was a tad sceptical that he was in Ulm given the sign on the front of tramcar no.65  says it is going to the Science Park, but even I know the German for Science Park is …… Wissenschaftspark.

Not that I am surprised.

We watch a lot of Italian TV and in the last few years English has invaded chat show conversations, news bulletins and adverts.

Still I shouldn't be harsh, they have been running their trams since 1897, and in "2018, a second main line was added to the former single tram line that had been left of the former network since 1964".**

Perhaps my friend will have better luck in Frieburg which is the next stop.

We shall see.

Location; Ulm

Picture; the Ulm tram bound for the Wissenschaftspark, 2024

*Public Transport in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, https://gruppen.ulm.de/en/planning/travel-planning/public-transport/

**Trams in Ulm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Ulm

Moany Romans ........the sad letters of of Claudius Terentianus ..... one to listen to today

As ever I am looking forward to this edition of Being Roman with Mary Beard.*

This one is entitled Soldiering for Softies and as the sleeve notes say "The image of the battle-hardened, well regimented Roman soldier has been set in stone by movies, novels and video games. 

The letters of Claudius Terentianus reveal something very different. A terrible moaner, the young soldier has to beg his father to send the most basic of equipment, from sandals to swords. 

Stuck in the marines, the poorly paid squad tasked with guarding grain supplies, he bribes and wangles his way into a more illustrious legion, but still seems to spend more time shopping than fighting.

Mary Beard catches up with Terentianus at the British Museum's Legion exhibition and discovers more about his uncanny ability to avoid conflict and ensure a prosperous retirement.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Expert Contributors: Carolina Rangel de Lima, British Museum; Livia Capponi, Pavia University and Claire Holleran Exeter University

Cast: Terentianus played by Robert Wilfort"

Picture; models of Roman soldiers, 1974, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Soldiering for Softies,Being Roman with Mary Beard, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zdrj

Castlefield ......... the place without a castle

Now you won’t find a castle at Castlefield.

It is one of those regrettable gaffs that the Normans didn’t reckon Manchester important enough for even one of those oddly named Motte and Bailey ones.

But instead the disappointed tourist will uncover a rich seam of history which will take them from the Romans to the start of the Age of Canals and on to the first passenger railway station in the world, some oddly named hospitals and a shed load of period pubs.

The Romans built a fort here during their push north to subjugate the “blue shield people” who also went under the name of the Brigantes and were not over keen on hypocausts, Latin or the Roman taxation system.

All of which is why with minor modification the fort continued the business of protecting the important link between Chester and York for 300 years.

In the process it also attracted a small band of civilians who lived in the township outside its walls and they have left a mix of everyday objects offering up an insight to how they lived.

As for the fort bits of its walls survived into the 18th century which despite the usual cries from the heritage lobby were destroyed in the construction of the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal which as everyone knows was constructed to bring coal from the Duke’s mines at Worsely into Manchester, thereby providing cheap fuel and further contributing to the grime of the city.

But in recognition of what was destroyed the area became known as Castlefield, a name which continues to confuse the tourist, especially when confronted with sections of replica Roman wall built in the 1980s by apprentice bricklayers employed by Manchester Corporation.

Sadly the mural painted by the artist David Vaughan on the side of a nearby railway viaduct showing a group of Roman soldiers entering the fort was left to fade and peel and was finally painted over.

Still one of those viaducts was built to resemble the towers of a castle so perhaps all turns out for the best in this best of all historical worlds.

Location; Castlefield

Pictures; the Roman fort, 2002 and the canal, 2006 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Beaufort Street and the mural by David Vughan coutresy of http://www.davidvaughanart.com/

Munich …the home of trams since 1876 …..

 Munich trams are blue.

A blue Munich Tram, 2024

But my travelling chum assures me that apart from being blue they are just like our yellow ones.

Blue Munich trams, 1974

Well that may well be but my Wikipedia lists a whole set of different designs which have busied themselves across the city since the first horsecars appeared in 1876 followed by the first electric trams nineteen years later.*

Now we won’t over mention the last world war when only 168 trams out of a fleet of 444 were operational.

Happily today there are 13 day time tram lines with four night time routes covering a total of 165 stops. 

At this point Eric who is a champion of our own Metro link will point out that in Greater Manchester there are 99 stops along 64 miles of track, although ruefully he had to concede we have only eight lines …. But with more planned.

Two yellow trams, St Peter's Square, 2024

Now I could mention the new series of books telling the story of Greater Manchester by Tram, but that would be an outrageous bit of self-promotion, so I won’t other than to offer up a link to the project.**

And because Eric insisted our own yellow trams get a look in , only for the technical tram fan to argues about the similarities and differences between blue and yellow.

Location; Munich

Picture; a blue Munich tram, 2024, München MVV Tramlinie 9 (M4.65 2496) / 20 (M3.64 2350) Cosimapark am 17. August 1974, Kurt Rasmussen, and yellow Manchester trams, 2024, St Peter's Square, and Deansgate Castlefield, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

One yellow tram, Deansgate Castlefield, 2024

*Trams in Munich, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Munich

Back with that blue Munich tram, 2024

**A History of Greater Manchester By Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram

Wishing you well ........... postcards from Woolwich, Greenwich and Eltham for the summer ..... nu 6 old houses Woolwich

A short series with few words looking at the postcards we sent from Woolwich, Greenwich and Eltham.

Now the caption is none too helpful and offers up just the description “Old houses Woolwich.”

But the building proved popular enough for another postcard company to reproduce a similar photograph with the more a more useful description which places them at “Free Ferry Approach.”

And according to one source was “situated on Hog Lane, later Nile Street, this timber building of fifteenth and sixteenth century origin had deteriorated into a lodging house by the time its northern half was cleared for the Free Ferry Approach during the 1880s.  Its southern half survived until 1905 when it was condemned.”*

Now I went looking for Nile Street and there it was in 1972 running into Rodney Street hard by the river and in time

Location; Woolwich

Picture; Woolwich, 1902, Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/

*Woolwich Through Time, Kristina Bedford

Lost in Prague .... with just some street furniture .... and a song

 So today l welcome into the Street Furniture Hall of Fame another great find. *

It is one of those cast-iron objects which I love so much.

Over the years I have inducted into the “club” a host of coal cellar covers, old gas lamps, finger posts, redundant parking meters, quirky litterbins and the odd gasometer.

And so today it’s a nice piece from Prague, collected by a chum yesterday and sent back from the “City of a Hundred Spires” and it is a good one, which not only does the job of helping the water run smoothy but carries that all important coat of arms and the bold announcement that it is part of "Prague sewage system".

My Wikipedia tells me that "the coat of arms was first introduced in the 15th century (when the city of Prague corresponded to what is now the Old Town district). 

It consisted of three silver towers on a red shield. 

In 1649, after the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand III added an armour arm in silver holding a silver sword emerging from the city gate. This symbol represents the effective defence of the city against the Swedish army during the Thirty Years war. 

The coat of arms was inherited by the modern city of Prague upon its formation in 1784, when the four boroughs (Old Town, New Town, Hradčany and Lesser Town were unified".** 

There is more, but mindful it’s someone else’s research I will just offer the link for you to read the rest.

And that is it.

Location; Prague

Picture; a little bit of Prague, 2024

*Street furniture lost and saved, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Street%20Furniture%20lost%20and%20saved

**Coat of arms of Prague, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Prague#:~:text=The%20coat%20of%20arms%20of,lesser%20and%20a%20greater%20version.&text=The%20coat%20of%20arms%20was,towers%20on%20a%20red%20shield.

The secrets of St John Street

Now I discovered St John Street about a month after this picture was taken and became captivated by these 18th and early 19th century houses. 

South side of St John Street, including number. 11, 1969

And a lot of other people have also been fascinated by them and you can see why because in a city which is constantly reinventing itself these are a link to a time when Castlefield was being developed.

Added to this over the years I have become intrigued by one house in particular, which is number 11.

This was the home of the Holt family who built the house in the early 1790s and occupied it well into the middle of the following century.

They had made their money from making the wooden engraving blocks used in calico printing, went on to own an extensive portfolio of properties in the surrounding streets and in the 1830s settled in a fine house in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

South side of St John Street, including number. 11, 2011

The first to make the move to the country were James and Hannah Holt who were followed by their children and grandchildren.

And during the writing of the Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy I not only got permission to tour number 11 but was given access to the deeds.

The 1969 image of the street have been unearthed by who came across it while engaged in a new project working on the Town Hall Photographer's Collection Digitisation Project, in the Central Library, which currently is Volunteer led and Volunteer staffed.

The negatives in the collection are dated from 1956 to 2007 and there are approximately 200,000 negatives to be digitised at three minutes a scan.

There are a dozen or so in the small collection and what struck me is that in those that contain people all of them are dressed in jackets and ties and in the case of women all carry those handbags.

But for me the other surprise was that modern bit of building which ran from the double fronted number 11 back towards Deansgate.

Detail of St John Street, 1969

I remember at the time thinking how out of keeping it was with the sweep of elegant period houses.

And then I guess sometime at the turn of the century I noticed that the spot was now occupied by a row of imitation 18th century properties.

For a while I was puzzled and almost doubted that they were relatively new, but Neil’s picture confirms my memory.

Pictures; St John Street, 1969, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 2011 from the collection of Andrew Simpson