MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

The clue is in the word 'normally' these appear to be two odd ones.

[Stanley]

You're right P. They are a couple of tapered wedges. And yes, from the numbers on them they are not a pair but have the same taper so when together they are always parallel.
Next for shaving?

[Stanley]

You lot are a bit slow with new objects.... Try this oldie.... What is it that is almost submerged in the canal at Greenberfield. If you know, give the others a chance!

[Gloria]

An old barge?????

[plaques]

The remains of a Viking longboat that had been sunk by the Barlick barbarians when they attempted to raid the early monastery down Butts.

[PanBiker]

I know and the idyllic scene that used to be with the overhanging willow tree was ripped out when they built the new houses, no reason to do it either it was not a navigation hazard but part of our history now lost. My dad sketched and painted that scene numerous times.

[Tizer]

The rib cage and skull of a big aquatic beast that found it's way into the Barlick waters and was then killed and cut up for oil to light the street lamps of the town and provide bone for the corsets of the ladies of the town.

[Tripps]

Is it the remains of the famous 'gondola on the canal' - a memorable thread from the old site?
I've tried to find, and link to it, it but failed.

[Stanley]

Ahhh, Nolic and the gondolas. Part of the thread that started with the Submarine in the Cut! Gloria has it right, but it's a rather special boat Gloria, have a guess at what it was and why it was left moored up for so long that it sank.

[chinatyke]

I have vague memories of this being mentioned in quarrying road setts/cobble stones. Does that jog anyone's memory?

[Bodger]

Re gondolas, the local council were discussing improving local amenities, someone suggested putting a pair of gondolas on the local lake, the motion was denied because nobody would accept responsibly for feeding them and protecting the chicks

[PanBiker]

China, it's Stanley's object but I can tell you it's nothing to do with quarrying.

[Stanley]

A clue for you.... It was smaller than a normal canal boat and had a stout handrail running down the centre line. As Ian says, nowt to do with quarries, in fact, and this is yet another clue, not used for cargo carrying but essential to it.

[Tizer]

Ah, a handrail down the centre! Then I'd guess it's an ice-breaker. Men would stand in a line holding onto the rail and moving to and fro to rock the boat sideways. This would crack and disperse the ice.

[PanBiker]

Here is a pen and ink sketch that my dad did when he was 17 years old in 1935. The boat was still in use at that time. Sorry for the quality of the image but it was drawn on paper which has faded somewhat and is now framed and behind glass. It is actually hung on the living room wall above where I sit. He drew and painted this view many times over the years in watercolour and oils. I have left this image at native size so it can be zoomed.

[plaques]

How interesting. I never knew they had icebreakers on the canal. Growing up in Burnley there were plenty of mills pumping warm water into the canal so the ice never got thick enough to walk on or stop the barges getting through.

[Stanley]

This pic of ice breaking at Gargrave is from Mike Clarke's book on the canal. Mike says the keel was 15" square Greenheart and the boat was designed to ride up on thick ice and break it by its weight. This is quite possibly the same boat that was sunk at Greenberfield.

Try this one....

[Wendyf]

A wonderful photo of the icebreaker, but look at the three powerful horses pulling it at a smart trot...magnificent! I imagine the horsemen with them were hanging on for dear life!

[Gloria]

Possibly measures of some type??

[Wendyf]

Measuring spoons for a half, a quarter and an eighth of a teaspoon?

[Tizer]

More photos of canal ice-breakers, taken from the excellent book `Canals in Wales', Ian Wright, 1977, Barton Bradford). The first photo has its own caption. The second shows the same boat "awaiting its fate at the Cambrian Yard, Gabalfa, in 1947. The hull was built of oak and sheathed with iron plates". This boat has two rails, one on either side. The final photo shows a different boat, a Shropshire Union ice-breaker with one central rail, at Ellesmere Maintenance Yard in 1952. The first two photos are accredited to Ian Wright and the final one to Derek Chaplin. (Copies of the book are available on Abebooks for £6 upwards, P&P included.)

[Cathy]

My first thought was measuring spoons , maybe man made ones, but then I thought the handles were too short.

[Stanley]

Interesting pics of the ice breakers. The last one looks exactly like our version.
All the ladies have the spoons correctly identified. I got them in Minnesota and the measures are (smallest first) Smidgeon, Pinch and Dash. I have a larger set and the quarter teaspoon is bigger than the Dash.
Next for shaving?

[Tizer]

Like Bodger's gondolas, I thought smidgeon was a species of duck until I met a scientist who always talked about `adding a smidgeon' (not very scientific!). Talking of such names, did you know that around the 1920s the RAF's aircraft included the Sopwith Snail and the Westland Weasel?

[Stanley]

'Sopwith Snail' doesn't sound like aggressive marketing!

Just to keep you going and test your site knowledge. What's this bloke doing in Wendy's pic......