Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/10/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Philippe, (and GeeBee), http://gallery.leica-users.org/Yorkshire/Calderdale_Canal_Basin_Hebden_Bridge_edited_1 Hebden Bridge Basin http://gallery.leica-users.org/Yorkshire/Image1_25_edited_1 Motorised narrowboat, under the road bridge at Saltaire. The town of Saltaire, a combination of the name Salt (Titus Salt) and Aire (the river) was purpose built in the Aire Valley by Sir Titus Salt in the 19th Century. He made his fortune by discovering a way to spin and weave fine Alpaca fibres. The workers houses were all built to a high standard of hygiene(flushing toilets), there were libraries and meeting rooms, bath houses, but no public houses (Inns or pubs) as Sir Titus was a strict Methodist and, as such, very much a man of temperance. The factory was disused for a long time but is now thriving as the David Hockney Museum (he was born close-by in Bradford) offices, studios and shops. It's well worth a visit. http://gallery.leica-users.org/Yorkshire/Calderdale Horse drawn narrowboat. This boat runs trips up and down the "cut" around Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley, Hebden Bridge was famous for corduroy and "Moleskin" cloth factories and is now a tourism centre and home to thousands of yuppies who escaped from Manchester and Leeds. In the meantime both Manchester and Leeds have shaken off their industrial past and, along with Newcastle, are the new media and fashion centres of Northern England it's a pity I didn't get in closer on these shots so that you could see the traditional "Rose and Castle" decorations on these narrowboats,I'm sure Graham has some more detailed shots of the like. The decorations are similar to those painted by Romany (Gypsy) families on their carts and waggons. The bargees, as they were called, decorated just about every inch of their boats and you can often find water jugs and other bits and pieces painted in this style in souvenir shops along the canals. Supposedly the R&C decorations go back to Romany themes from Rumania (or so I was told by a bargee family in Hebden Bridge). Both canals shown here traverse the Pennine Range via tunnels, in the distant past, before barges were motorised, the crew had to lie flat on their backs and push the barge through the tunnel by pressing against the roof. The horses were taken around on foot over the mountains. A quite spectacular thing used to happen in the Leeds and Liverpool tunnel, the railway tunnel runs parallel to the canal and you could find yourself enveloped in steam, smoke and deafening noise. Philippe Orlent wrote: >I was hesitating, too. >Longhouses, narrowboats. I'll try to remember it this way. > > > > >>From: Peter Dzwig <pdzwig@summaventures.com> >>Organization: Summa Ventures Ltd >>Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> >>Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 09:23:29 +0100 >>To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> >>Subject: Re: [Leica] #358 >> >>Philippe Orlent wrote: >> >> >>>I always love your longboat shots, Graham. >>>This one has a nice combination of light at the side of the barge combined >>>with the clouds. >>>Thanks for showing, >>>Philippe >>> >>> >>Philippe, >> >>these are "narrrowboats", ie canal boats, "longboats" are/were sea-going >>Viking >>war craft. The Vikings were in Northanptonshire last (tourists excepted) >>about >>900 AD. Not even Graham could get them in his picture - apart from the >>usual >>blow-up ones of course. >> >>All the best, >> >>Peter >> >>PS I always have to think before I get it round the right way! >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Leica Users Group. >>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > >