MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Marilyn]

Hang on. Was it a leather tool or a rug tool?
New pic looks like the underside of a brick arch such as in a Viaduct or similar, or the inside roof of a big kiln.

[Wendyf]

Maz, I have an identical tool, and it is for making rag rugs. One of the things I'd love to do but never get round to! Here is a LINK to a piccy of a modern one.

[David Whipp]

Rook of the tower of St Mary-le-Gill?

[Gloria]

Vaulted ceiling with a double arched cast iron support

[Stanley]

The arch idea is fine but I'm going to be hard on you all. I want to know where it is..... Nobody is close yet.... Look carefully at the pic, there are clues in there.

[Stanley]

Come on! Ask yourself how it got blackened like that.....

[Gloria]

Blackened by heat? Couldn't be direct fire as it would have been all black. Did it house a boiler? perhaps a bit ornate for that. A boiler in a posh place or a mill.

[Cathy]

Is it situated under a bridge, maybe polluted/darkened from trains or canal boats kitchen oven or fires.

[Stanley]

It would be cruel to push you any further because it is such an unusual subject. Cathy is almost there and I think we ought to give it to her. There is a disused pair of railway tunnels under the Pennines at Standedge, replaced by a modern larger tunnel and flanked by a canal tunnel. (LINK) About thirty years ago I walked to the centre of the old railway tunnels (totally illegal!) and when we got to the middle found there was a cross cut between the two. This cross over is made with the massive cast iron vault seen in the picture and the floor is tiled with encaustic tiles like a Victorian town hall foyer. This was done to make it into a celebratory banquet hall for the directors and the sponsors. They held a banquet deep under the Pennines! For all it's life the tunnel was used by coal-fired steam trains and so Cathy was quite right, it's covered with soot.
Right, try this one....

[Gloria]

Wow Stanley what an interesting place that must have been to see, sound fascinating.

[PanBiker]

A large Lime Kiln?

[Tizer]

Arsenic flue?

For all it's life the tunnel was used by coal-fired steam trains and so Cathy was quite right, it's covered with soot.

The Manchester-Sheffield railway used electric locos from early in the 1900s because of the problems of smoke in the Woodhead Tunnels.

[Stanley]

Close but no cigar as yet....
Gloria, you're right, well worth the trek and to make it even better there were cross cuts into the canal tunnel which was closed at that time. They used the canal for removing spoil and bringing in building materials.

[Cathy]

Just an aside... to me

[Big Kev]

It looks similar to the cellar, under The Anchor at Salterforth. It's below the water level of the canal so is full of stalagtites.

[Gloria]

To Cathy "the all knowing one"--

[Cathy]

I wish hehe

[Stanley]

Don't hide your light under a bushel Cathy! You looked at the picture and realised the soot was the clue.
The last pic is closely related to the arch, keep thinking railway tunnels..... Here's a big clue... Anybody know what 'gricing' is?

[David Whipp]

Collins "to collect objects or visit places connected with trains and railways".

If I hadn't looked it up, I'd have said it was connected with icicles...

Putting Stanley's clues together; Standedge Tunnel in deep freeze?

[Gloria]

Gricing is to do with railway enthusiasts. To collect objects or visit places connected with trains and railways.

[Stanley]

It would be cruel to push you any further. It was extremely cold and the pic is of the bottom of one of the air shafts used to ventilate the tunnel. The water falling down the shaft had frozen and made the entrance look like some sort of grotto. One more connected pic, should be easy....

[David Whipp]

Connecting tunnel between railway and canal at Standedge Tunnel?

[Gloria]

View out of an air vent showing the tunnel.

[Stanley]

Yes to you both. I told you it was easy. They dug the tunnel from several locations along the line and used the canal for shipping spoil out and materials in.



Here's a pic of the Hebden Bridge Gay Gricing Society taking lunch at the mid point of the tunnel. It struck me that the pic is significant because it has three well-known photographers in it. Left to right: Martin Parr, Susie Parr, Margaret Graham, Daniel Meadows, Marlene Kader, Vera Graham and Charlie Meecham. Now try this one....

[David Whipp]

Subway under railway tracks? No idea where.