Shot Mill, Southbank, London

Lawrence Josset (YMGW passim), master of the mezzotint and described as a "magnificent anachronism" in his obituary in The Independent, was a prolific drawer and engraver of London scenes. There is no catalogue raisonné of his work, and internet searches keep turning up further items. The latest is Shot Mill, a pen and ink drawing with watercolour wash, 22 x 14½ inches in size, in the hands of Peter Harrington, dealer in rare books and works on paper.

The work is described as circa 1980, but that can't be right. The image shows Waterloo Bridge, designed by our old friend Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and, west of this, on the south side of the river, the Royal Festival Hall under construction. The foundation stone of the RFH was laid in 1949. The shot tower was kept as a feature during the 1951 Festival of Britain, and demolished when the Queen Elizabeth Hall was built in the sixties. So, the scene is sometime between 1949 and 1951, and the drawing is likely to be contemporaneous.

Return to GBZ

The various buildings of Criggion Radio Station (YMGW passim) have recently been boarded-up again. Less and less is left in them to indicate their 'secret' history and function. The medium wave (high frequency) transmitter building, pictured, is now in a particularly poor state, all the cabling having been ripped out for scrap. Back in the days of LPs, when artwork still mattered, one could have shot a fine album cover here.

On the way, parked up on a corner and for sale, is a 1928 Austin Heavy 12/4, complete with artillery wheels. The 12/4 was introduced in 1921 as a four-seat tourer. Other body styles followed, and the car was still being produced in 1939, as a taxi - it is from an empty one of these that one can imagine Attlee stepping. The "Heavy" designation was used retrospectively, in the 1930s, to destinguish the car from Austin's newer 12hp models. YV 2703 was originally a saloon, but has during its life also been a pick-up. It was converted to a coupé in the early 1980s.

That's a Fine Pear You've Got There

This year's West Midlands Tree Warden Forum was held in the wonderful surroundings of Worcester Woods Country Park, just outside the city. Boasting an hundred acres of ancient oak woodland, and a fine Countryside Centre, the venue is ideal for this purpose.

Nunnery Wood (above) was, together with Nunnery Farm, managed by the White Ladies, Cistercian nuns. As a result of the dissolution, the wood was made an endowment to Christ Church College, Oxford, to the benefit of which it remains to this day. It is home not just to oak, but also aspen, wild service, yew, crab apple and pear - including the Worcester black pear, featured on the city's coat of arms.

An oak on the edge of the wood is likely half a millennium old, marking an ancient boundary. The woods were once farmland, and in nearby Hornhill Meadows one can still see the lines of ridge and furrow cultivation. An orchard of the nineteenth century, the remnants of Horn Hill Farm, has been restored, with apples and pears that were shrouded in briar now brought back to production (above).

Much Binding in the Marsh

Shropshire is a treasure trove of hidden gems, corners from another time. One such is Birchfield Garage, in Much Wenlock. Three redundant pumps, from different eras, stand sentinel. The central one is a Gilbarco (Gilbert and Barker as was), and that on the right is likely an Avery. Doubtless various collectors have sought to acquire them, but they look right just where they are, waiting for an Austin A40 to come by.

What, When & Ware VII

In Scotts Road the houses, explains Janet Watson, jump from number 28 to number 34. When this modern development was laid out in the mid-1960s two houses were to be built on the land occupied by Scotts Grotto, the porch and the 'council chamber' roof of which were demolished before work was stopped.

Hidden behind inconspicuous wooden gates, the grotto is the largest in the UK, extending 67 feet into chalk hillside. There are six chambers, each lined with shells, flints, fossils and coloured glass, connected by passageways and air vents. The grotto, Grade I listed, was excavated over a period of 30 years in the eighteenth century for John Scott, the poet that in 1768 inherited Amwell House (YMGW passim). The council chamber is the most highly decorated section.

In the nineteenth century the grotto graced the grounds of a large house built on part of what had been Amwell House's pleasure gardens, and belonging to Mr Hanbury of Allen and Hanbury fame (YMGW passim). Basic repairs were executed in 1974. Between 1990 and 1991 the Ware Society oversaw a complete restoration, including replacement of the porch, re-roofing of the council chamber, and repair of the Grade II* listed octagonal summerhouse that sits atop the hill.

"Gas, Boy!"

The Gasboy brand was adopted in 1928 when William M. Wilson's Sons, Inc., of Lansdale, PA, made their first pump. William had founded Wilson's right back in 1819. For over an hundred years the company specialised in painting, glazing and wholesale distribution. It became a distributor of steel drums in the early 1900s, and in the early 1920s moved into 'gas' dispensing equipment. This 1970s commercial pump, a Model 57L, with keyholes for up to 20 users, looks good for its new glass sight and aluminium fascia, the latter fabricated by Andy Smith. Just needs an hose.

Airstream, Curtis Wright or Silver Streak?

Trying to determine the manufacturer and year of an early American aluminium trailer can be confusing. Airstreams of the late 1930s, Curtis Wrights of the 1940s, and early Silver Streaks all look very similar; and many secondary sources on the web are, at best, muddled, so any corrections are welcome.



Wally Byam started working life in advertising, and later either worked for or became a magazine publisher during the Great Depression. In seeking to get to the bottom of reader complaints about inaccuracies in plans for a caravan published in an early DIY magazine, Byam started building them himself, in plywood. From 1930 this became Byam's full-time occupation, and he founded Airstream - web sources give the date as anywhere between 1931 and 1934.



In about 1935 Byam went to work for William Hawley Bowlus. Bowlus was an aircraft pioneer, had been Superintendent of Construction on Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. He'd taken to designing all-aluminium bullet-shaped caravans - the Chief and the smaller Papoose. When Bowlus went bust in 1936, Byam bought some of the equipment and took on some of the Bowlus workers. He started selling, under his Airstream brand, a near copy of the Bowlus Chief, the key difference being that the Airstream had the door in the side instead of at the front. Byam's caravan was called the Clipper.



Meanwhile, a chap named Curtis Wright, one S, made clever use of his name to build caravans at the facilities of aircraft manufacturer Curtiss-Wright, two Ss and two surnames hyphenated together. One-S Curtis Wright hired Byam and in 1946 they started producing, at Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport, a trailer based on Byam's pre-war Airstream Clipper. The relationship lasted only a few months. In 1947 Byam refounded Airstream, first making again the Clipper, and, from 1948, offering a range of sizes. Wright founded Curtis Wright Travel Trailers, but in 1949 sold out to three investors who changed the name to the Silver Streak Trailer Company. The Silver Streak Clipper was built in South El Monte, California.



Today's acquisition is ostensibly a 1947 Curtis Wright. However, it bears a badge that says it's a Silver Streak from El Monte, so must be of 1949 or later. Against that, though, it has two rectangular windows at the rear, instead of the one wide window, or two 'Argonaut' windows, that feature in every image of Silver Streak Clippers seen so far. A bit of a mystery at this stage.

Skegness - Singularly Scrofulous

From 'O'-level geography one will recall that longshore drift accounts for the gradual reduction in sediment particle size as one moves south along the Lincolnshire coastline, with mud defining The Wash. At Skeggy though there are sand dunes. And that's it.

The pier, built 1881, was at that time the fourth longest in England, but was very much shortened in 1978 as a result of storm damage. It now barely extends beyond the line of high tide. Crude and ugly, Skegness doesn't even have the faded charm of Morecambe, Blackpool, or Barmouth - it's just plain depressing. Avoid.

Llanyblodwel - Church Among the Flowers

Although the south doorway is Norman and the arcade and screen mediaeval, St Michael the Archangel in Llanyblodwel is essentially the Victorian creation of Rev. John Parker, vicar from 1845 to 1860. Parker designed the porches and dormer, ceilings, reredos, and the decorative scheme, which features scriptural quotations, later white-washed but restored in 1960.

Yet Parker's greatest achievement is the tower and spire. Both are octagonal, as the site could not accommodate a buttressed square tower. The spire, built 1855, has a convex cross-section, which provides increased strength. At 47 feet high, the centre point of the spire's external curve is 10½ inches outside the slanting line between base and apex.

The churchyard is home to two stone coffins, possibly Norman but certainly mediaeval, and a number of fine Victorian monuments. Some of the plots are delineated with chains of unusual design.

The Myddeltons, the Red Hand Gang

Roger Mortimer built the earliest parts of Chirk Castle, overlooking the Ceiriog Valley, in 1295. One Thomas Myddelton bought Chirk in 1595 for £5,000; and the castle remained in the family's hands right through to 2004. The best approach is from the baroque iron gates of 1719-21, fabricated by Robert and John Davies of Croesfoel Forge, near Wrexham. These were originally placed between screen walls in front of the present castle entrance; and were relocated to their present position in 1888. The long drive up to the castle is lined with both mature (some with giant burls) and, pleasingly, young, oaks.

In the early nineteenth century the interior was breathed upon by Gothic Revivalist Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, whose extensive list of work includes the interior of Charles Barry's Palace of Westminster. Much of his work at Chirk was obliterated in the twentieth century. Pugin's luxuriously exotic, even erotic, richness of design can however be seen not far away, in Staffordshire, across which he built numerous churches, convents and schools for local patron, John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury.

Mad Jacks Aplenty*

Atop Cym y Bwch, the 1995 sculpture Janus Horse, one head facing England and the other Wales, marks the site of Oswestry Old Racecourse, which saw an annual week of horse racing between the early 1700s and 1848. The course was a figure of eight, the crossing point a road separating the North and South Commons, turfed over for the duration of the races; and was last laid with Cumberland turf by French prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars.

The grandstand (remains pictured), built in 1804 near the finishing post, incorporated an umpire's box and refreshment facilities for those with the necessary funds. Race entry was a pricey two guineas, plus half a guinea to the Clerk of the Course, which limited attendance to the local aristocracy and gentlefolk. John 'Mad Jack' Mytton, of the same eccentric cast as John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, raced here. Interpretation boards put decline of the course down to increasing attendance by, and rowdiness of, the "lower classes;" and to growth of the railway network, which enabled mounts to be transported greater distances to larger meetings, such as those at Chester.

* Other 'Mad Jacks' include Lieutenant Colonel John Churchill, who fought during WWII with longbow and arrows and a claybeg; and Captain John Percival, US naval officer.

HZ Fourgon

Introduced in 1947, the H van was produced right through to 1981. It was designed single-handedly by Pierre Franchiset, and is famed both for its corrugated steel panels (inspired by the WWII Junkers bomber and providing great strength with minimal weight - there is no separate chassis), and the first use of the 'Yoda' pinless hinge.



Power came originally from the cast iron 1.9 litre Traction Avant petrol engine, introduced in 1934. The block, with an alloy head from 1963, was used right through to the H's demise, which reputedly makes it the longest-used automotive component ever. In 1958 the H was replaced by the HY. A Perkins diesel option was introduced in 1961. Built that year and dry-stored since 1989, 718 DX 61 boasts this virtually indestructible powerplant.



Citroën turned out 478,743 H vans, most with a three speed box, in France and Belgium. A further 10,016 were built in Holland, and can be distinguished by their front-hinged doors. The standard vans are denominated as HYs, those of lower load capacity as HZs, and those of greater load capacity as HXs. Some were sold as the Model 1600, referring, confusingly, to the 1,600 kilogram carrying ability, not to the engine size. The level rear floor and the flexible three piece tailgate made the H an ideal delivery vehicle.

Restoration Man & Woman

Natalie and Karl Bass open Christ Church in Welshpool as part of the local council's 'Be a Local Tourist' week. Living accommodation is being constructed at second floor level, extending what would have been the gallery. Once ready, the family will move into this from the 'hut' - a temporary structure in the nave.

It is inspiring to learn that everything is being done in-house. Amongst other things, Karl has erected the steels and built the studwork, and Natalie has done the lime plastering. The view out over the nave, which is being restored to provide community facilities, is superb. This was the first church in Wales to use terracotta (likely to be from Ruabon) for structural purposes, and the intended bedrooms have a great prospect of this.

(Photograph by Natalie Bass)

Llynclys - Steam Under Collars

Shades of The Life of Brian's People's Front of Judea, Judean People's Front, Judean Popular People's Front, and Campaign for a Free Galilee. The Cambrian Railways Society was formed in 1972 but signally failed to make progress with bringing back to life the line between Gobowen and Blodwel. The rival Cambrian Railways Trust, formed in 1998, set about being more business-like, and accordingly secured funds to acquire the trackbed between Llynclys and Pant.

The Trust carried its first passengers in 2005, and built a replica of Llynclys South station. The feuding societies eventually combined in 2009 as Cambrian Heritage Railways. In the yard is a diesel locomotive, a shunter, and a variety of interesting architectural pieces. One of these is a roof vent from the Cambrian Institute, built in 1909 as a social club for Oswestry's railway workers, but unfortunately demolished 98 years later. Close by is Llynclys Cottage, which boasts a fine circular window, made by the previous owner.

What, When & Ware VI

Always go around the corner, take the road with which one is unfamiliar. Across a little footbridge over the River Lea, built by Tubewrights of Newport - these footbridges are quite common over railway lines - is the green of the Ware Bowling Club. Around this are a number of topiary conceits. That of two heads is particularly fine.

If You Go Down to the Woods

Broxbourne Woods is Hertfordshire's only National Nature Reserve. As home to scarce wildlife, including 27 species of butterfly, it is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The reserve, of 586 acres, is made up of four woods - Bencroft, Broxbourne, Hoddesdon Park and Wormley; the first two owned by the county council and the latter two by the Woodland Trust. The woods, about ten miles from Hertford, are described as ancient, but are (pre)-Roman tilled lands later re-colonised by trees. The numerous banks and ditches evidence past use as grazing land. The dominant trees are sessile oak and hornbeam, here at the most northerly extent of its natural range.

In the midst of Wormley Wood is a cast-iron coal post. About 250 to 260 of these were erected in 1861, marking the then boundaries of London, although the area designated by the posts has its origins in the mediaeval period. It was at these points that duty was levied on coal, wine and other commodities, which taxes contributed toward meeting the cost of key parts of London's infrastructure, including a number of the bridges over the Thames. In the seventeenth century the duties collected part-funded the re-building of London after the Great Fire.

About 200 posts remain. At first blush it seems odd that this Grade II listed post is in the middle of a wood, but our notions of what constitutes an highway are influenced by twentieth-century motorways. The track by which the post stands was the route by which Oliver Cromwell travelled to Ware to suppress a rebellion, so would have been recognised back then as a principal road.

What, When & Ware V

Out in bloom along the New River (YMGW passim) are ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) and field poppies (Papaver rhoeas). Hard by the nearby River Lea are the buildings of GlaxoSmithKline, the principal employer in Ware. One of these buildings was originally a factory belonging to Allen and Hanburys Ltd, a pharmaceutical manufacturer absorbed by GSK in 1958. The A&H factory had specialised in baby foods, malt products for invalids, and medicated pastilles; and was behind the asthma drug Ventolin. The factory has been sympathetically converted, although it's a shame that the London stock bricks of which it is constructed have been re-pointed such that the mortar is proud of the bricks.

Cave of a Cove

To the west of Nesscliffe Rock, Shropshire, is a cave cut in the red sandstone, the hideout of the late fifteenth-century/early sixteenth-century highwayman Humphrey Kynaston. There are two chambers, separated by a pillar carved from the live stone. Outlawed by King Henry VII in 1491, Kynaston lived in one chamber, the entrance to which is 35 feet up the cliff face, reached by stone steps; and kept his horse, Beelzebub, in the other. Into the pillar is engraved "H.K. 1594," but this cannot be by Kynaston's own hand, as he died 60 years earlier.

Isettas Need Little Oil

From St Austell comes this tin 20 gallon oil dispenser, complete with brass pump and gradated wooden dipstick. Its function has preserved the dispenser extremely well, and it will look great when repainted, probably in a gold/bronze colour.

The previous owners have a BMW Isetta bubble car, currently being restored, their fifth. The Isetta was created in 1952 by Iso SpA, an Italian company ("Isetta" means Little Iso). The front, complete with steering wheel, hinges open to enable entry. Power came originally from a two-stroke scooter engine. BMW bought a licence, as did French and Brazilian companies, and re-engineered the car, powering it with a four-stroke motorcycle engine. Isetta of Great Britain took a sub-licence from BMW, and from 1957 built Isettas in Brighton, from where hailed this car.

Kinnerley: Ammo, Arbour & Argoed

The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway ran through Kinnerley until 1960. This, and the balance between centrality and remoteness, lay behind selection, during WWII, of the area around the village for a secret ammunition dump. The Royal Engineers built over 200 stores, of brick with roofs formed of concrete sleepers atop concrete pillars, covered with soil and turfed to camouflage and protect them.

Each store was served by a siding, which ran right through its centre. Huge sliding doors would be opened, the ammunition wagons shunted inside, the doors closed, and the cargo unloaded into the bays either side of the track. Kinnerley was declassified only in the mid-1950s. The storage sheds are impossible to photograph internally without a number of flash slave units, but Kinnerley also boasts a most unusual arbour in its playground, hexagonal in plan, oak uprights supporting a tiled roof, the whole supported on huge slabs of limestone on edge; and the remains of Argoed Hall, just outside the village.

Fanhams Hall

Just outside Ware is Fanhams Hall, which started life as a Queen Anne house. It has passed through many hands, including, in the nineteenth century, those of local bankers and malters. One Lady Brockett resided at Fanhams after the death of her husband in 1934 and until her own in 1949. Perhaps as a salve for her grief she developed the splendid grounds. These are divided up into numerous spaces with hedges, wide herbaceous borders, walls (one of which features two almost circular entrances), and ironwork gates (one featuring a fireman and another a rabbit nibbling flowers), a surprise around each corner.

The Japanese Garden, complete with ornamental lakes, bridges, teahouse, miniature Fujiyama, and carefully-placed granite lanterns, was tended pre-WWII by gardeners who came each year from Japan for the purpose. An Austrian house is less successful - the cuckoo-clock style is difficult to appreciate. There is a lovely wisteria walk, just coming into flower, and a Queen Anne garden with fine brick paths.

Westminster Bank bought the hall in 1951, and sold it 20 years later to the Building Societies' Association, which used it as a training centre. In turn, in 1986, the BSA sold Fanhams to Sainsbury's, who used it for the same purpose. The hall is now an hotel.

Ceiriog Engineering Feats

Chirk Aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and opened in 1801, carries the 46 mile Llangollen Canal over the River Ceiriog. It's an impressive structure, 70 feet high and of ten spans. Beside it, also of ten principal spans but 30 feet higher, supposedly to demonstrate the supremacy of rail over water, is Henry Robertson's railway viaduct, completed in 1848. Beyond the aqueduct is Chirk Tunnel, 460 yards long and as black within as the hole of Calcutta. A basin and wharf lies between these two engineering marvels. The tunnel was demanded by the owners of Chirk Castle, the Myddeltons, who didn't want their views intruded upon by a canal embankment. There is a worn example of the Myddelton coat of arms on an old gate pier in the woods.

Lee or Lea?

Signs in Ware use both "Lea" and "Lee" to refer to the river. For a considerable part of its way this flows within the Lee Valley Park. The Environment Agency utilises "Lea" throughout the river's length. The canalised part is known as the Lee and Stort Navigation. It seems that "Lea" predominates upstream of Hertford, where, after Hertford Castle Weir, the river becomes a navigation.

Both spellings are used from Hertford to the Thames, so it was perhaps the use of "Lee" in the parliamentary act permitting the canalisation that caused the variation. To add to the confusion, where the the Lea/Lee meets the Thames it is known as Bow Creek. The take-off of water for New River (YMGW passim) lowered the natural water levels, demanding the installation of locks, including at Hardmead. Just east of this point there is some surprisingly interesting new residential development.