When I was at college (Chester) we visited Brymbo steelworks (no longer operational). That was quite an experience! More recently I visited Blists Hill in Shropshire, well worth a visit if you're in the area, where some sort of huge drop hammer was operating in the foundry. The way it shook the ground, even from a distance, was quite disturbing. I can't imagine what it must have been like in the old industrial days, with all the equipment going at full wallop. Quarry Bank Mill at Styal, with its relentlessly chattering working looms (when they were turned on every half hour for demonstrations), brought home the hardships of such work. Such sights are becoming more unusual as time passes, which is a good thing as far as Health & Safety is concerned!
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
Was that Chester College of Education? I was at similar in Wrexham. I went out with a boy from there for a while. Have been to Quarry Mill which was fantastic and very informative, and to Ironbridge, Black Country Museum and the one in Durham whose name escapes me. We are very interested in historical archaeology.
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Used to help out at my children's Primary School. One trip we went on was to the local sewage works. Interesting in the labs.
Living in the textile areas, I've been to quite a lot of mills, working and museums.
Other unusual natural features we've visited are the limestone pavements, there are a number of different places not too far from where we live. Also Brimham rocks, and Aysgarth Falls.
On holiday in Normandy we stayed in a town that has a bell foundry, which we were able to look round. OH was appalled by the lack of H&S.
Having lived near Morecambe Bay until the age of 20, plus having visited regularly ever since, I have once done the cross Bay walk, and seen the tidal bore a couple of times.
I find it interesting that my lot that worked in the industries that are now days out, do try National Coal Mine Museum. National Glass Museum, we are more likely to go Electric Mountain. But I did realise I was old when after working at Rolls Royce Bristol. Concorde is now Museum.
Perhaps I could get out the old lawn mower and use a ruler and a plumb bob and call myself a heritage centre.
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
We are just back from a caravan site beside the runway of BAE Warton. They are building some sort of fighter jets there so it was interesting (if a little noisy at times) to watch them doing test flights.
Dad's brother worked at Orgreave pit and I remember he once took us to the winding house and let us have a go on the controls to send the cage down the shaft. This would be sometime in the 1970s and it was still steam powered, quite scary when you aren't that old.
I've visited some of the last vertical woollen mills in the UK and seen wool go from its raw state to a scarf. The finishing was interesting, There were two piles of finished scarves. One pile was for a high street retailer, the other was for a fashion brand. The fashion brand had their logo badge added and for that one badge the price tripled!
Harris Tweed mill visit in Lewis was also interesting, wierd experience as its not a true visitor attraction, but if you turn up they will show you around.
I've also visited foundries and manufacturing plants. Not that long ago I went to a small manufacturing company whuch was straight out of Fred Dibnah, not changed much in 150 years. In a similar vein a steam locomotive boiler works which Fred did visit, but it is now closed.
I've also lost count of the number of distilleries I've visited. All make the same thing, but all have their own processes and methods which are slightly different.
Way back in the dim and dark days of the 1970's when I was being taught electronics, we were tutored on a device called an Ignatron, which was a mercury vapour rectifier for turning AC power into DC, and dating back to the 1930's (yes, our education was a way off 'cutting edge' technology)! Our lecturer was an old chap, who I distinctly remember saying something like "I'm obliged to teach you this, BUT I've never even seen one outside of a textbook in my long career before taking up lecturing, let alone in use, and you lot are certainly unlikely to ever need to know this outside of an exam, but that's the curriculum for you!"
Well, he was right, never encountered one for 45 years after my 'education', UNTIL I visited a water pumping station living museum, with steam engines and ancillary equipment dating back to the early part of 20th century, and low and behold there was a working Ignatron in the flesh no less! Only a daft old engineer could get excited by such things, but it was like discovering a Unicorn, it wasn't just ancient myth and legend and tales told in dusty books, they really did exist, a sad old man's moment of elation at coming 'face to electrode' with a mythical beast!
The other sad old engineers out there will recognise the 'joy' of encountering something of the ilk, the rest of you will write me off as being a bit barmy, but all the best engineers are a bit barmy! ... I think!
Anyway my years of expensive adult education in dusty corridors of academia being taught pointless trivia wasn't all wasted, I can recognise obscure ancient artifacts in museums without need to refer to explanatory plaques or listen to guidance from curators!
We're not long back from Stavanger, Norway and we visited a few museums there. The most unusual oneOn a was the sardine canning museum, set in the original canning factory. It was a curious, but fascinating story of the fishing industry and the canning process. Amongst the items on display was a can which had been part of the provisions on Roald Amundsen's expedition to the south pole in 1911.
On a related note, we flew to Stavanger from Aberdeen on Wideroe airlines. They were great - comfy seats, good legroom, very punctual and with a snack and drinks during the flight.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
A few years ago, we spent some time in Poland and I had booked a week’s experience on the steam train in Wolzstyn. That was a fantastic week driving the steam train into Poznan.
Quote: Originally posted by Capt Lightning on 21/4/2024
We're not long back from Stavanger, Norway and we visited a few museums there. The most unusual oneOn a was the sardine canning museum, set in the original canning factory. It was a curious, but fascinating story of the fishing industry and the canning process. Amongst the items on display was a can which had been part of the provisions on Roald Amundsen's expedition to the south pole in 1911.
On a related note, we flew to Stavanger from Aberdeen on Wideroe airlines. They were great - comfy seats, good legroom, very punctual and with a snack and drinks during the flight.
We've also been to Stavanger a couple of times, lovely city.
Sardine canning factory was great as they were cooking sardines. The can designs were amazing. The Oil Museum is also great fun, especially the escape chute. We also did the Gormley statue tour, but didn't find them all as we ran out of time.
Open cast coal mine; guy on my course was 6’8”. He was very useful for showing the scale of the machinery, because he was dwarfed by the wheel of one of the dump trucks. Health & safety is much stricter now & rightly so after deaths on sites due to accidents involving vehicles.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Unusual places or things
via mobile 20/4/2024 at 7:25pm
