MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

No. Clue, the material is glass and very old.....

[plaques]

Ref Tizer. "Time Team would tell you it's a rare example of...." They must have dug a bloody long way down and come out in Australia. !!

[Stanley]

You know what it is as well. Here's where it came from.....



The twisted iron is old barrel hoops.....

[Stanley]

You appear to have given up on this one. It's the base of an old wine bottle I picked up at Eumalga near Dubbo, the place where father was born. Eumalga was where a man called Serisier started what is believed to be the first vineyard and winery in NSW. (LINK)
Next for shaving?

[Tizer]

Here's something different. Yes, I know they're shoes and, no, they're not treacle miners' boots (and no, they're not mine either!). But what decade did they belong to and whose brand/company was responsible?

[PanBiker]

They look 1970's to me but I have no idea of brand.

[Stanley]

Clarkes in 1970?

[chinatyke]

Vivienne Westwood? Seem to remember Naomi Campbell falling off a pair like this on the catwalk when she was young.

Just noticed the number of views on this topic was 111,111 when I posted this.

[Tizer]

I'm not saying anything yet - let's have a few more attempts first!

[Tizer]

Another day gone and no more responses to the shoe pictures, so here's the answer. The most significant point about these two shoes, and what made me put them on this topic, was that they were made in 1938. I'm not surprised that you suggested the 1970s, that's what I would have thought, but I was gobsmacked to find they were from the 1930s. I wonder what today's youngsters would make of that? I know the shoes wouldn't have been worn by the average 1930s woman and would probably be available only to the well off and fashionable types of the era but it's still a shock to find that such designs were available so much earlier. As they say, nothing new under the sun!

Stanley was right to mention Clarke's, but not as the manufacturer - these shoes are in the Clarke's Museum in Street. (He knows I live in easy distance of Street and probably guessed there was a link!) Both shoes are from 1938, and the brown ones are described as "Ghillie Shoe. Brown box calf. Cork sole and 3 inch heel. Made by M. Fini, Bologna." The other is "Evening Sandal. White satin. 4.5 inch heel, 2.25 inch platform sole. Made by Bally, Switzerland."

We went on a `behind the scenes' tour of Clarke's Museum last week and it was fascinating. They have many display cases filled with examples of shoes through the ages, some containing only their own shoes and some with shoes from other manufacturers. It would be nirvana for anyone who is obsessed with shoes! I was a bit disappointed because I'd expected more about the technology and manufacture but they are building a new, bigger museum and that should cover a wider scope. We were also taken into the archive rooms to see where they keep examples of many other shoes and all the historical documents connected with the business and the Clarke family, who were Quakers. They have large air-conditioned rooms filled with those sliding racks like they use in library stacks. Once the new museum opens there will be other things to see - some of the family collected fossils! Two photos follow, both taken at the museum. The first is an old poster advertising Clarke's and the second shows a steam engine in the factory at the end of the 1800s (I think it was described a a Petrie).

[Cathy]

Ah! Platform Shoes. I used to run for the bus in those...memories:)

[David Whipp]

[PanBiker]

Mile Tunnel, Foulridge

[plaques]

George Osborne's austerity tunnel. I can't see any light at the end of it.

[Tizer]

David's endoscopy photos.

[Stanley]

Cathy, some young lasses in Paisley in the 1970s thought my clogs were build-ups!
I'll go with Mile Tunnel. If I'm right, this is closely related....

[David Whipp]

Sorry, not Mile Tunnel.

Stanley is stood under the Foulridge railway bridge over the canal...

[Wendyf]

Cellars under the Anchor at Salterforth? Now drained.

[David Whipp]

Sorry no, Wendy. But it does have stalactites...



PS should have asked for a copy of the endoscopy footage...

Anyone remember the One Foot In The Grave episode where Victor mixed up CCTV footage of a drain survey with endoscopy footage?

[PanBiker]

Surely not the tunnel through to Rainhall Rock from the Barnsey End? I remember it was almost dry and had a lot of rubble on the ground when I used to fish it in the 60's and 70's. You could till get through though at that time.

[Stanley]

I'll go with Ian....

[David Whipp]

Ian is in the right place; took the photo the other day when having a look at Little Cut because of the dead swan there.



Apparently known as 'Dead Man's Cave' (a new one to me).

[PanBiker]

I have never hear it called that either David until someone posted it on one of the local FB sites. Must be a relatively recent (last 40 years) naming. Probaly from Coates kids from the area in the 80's, I suppose you only need one to coin the phrase. On a similar note, and also a forgotten corner, the remnants of the railway bride over the canal between Cockshot and Park bridges was known to our kids as "Castle Greyskull", particularly our Carla and Dan (just the right age for the cartoon and merchandise).

[Tizer]

Does the name Dead Man's Cave derive from this 1954 book perhaps? (Amazon web page):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Mans-Cave- ... B00669TKRI

[Stanley]

As it used to be....
Next one?