Photos of the procession, harbour and Greenfield gardens, Aug 1st.
Roger James: Carriage under Cayforth flats; Dancers on School Lane joining Primrose Terr.; Proper Job singning in Greenfield Gardnes; Tea treats; The combined bands (Bagas Crowd & The Hornets) in Greenfield gardens.
Angela Hooper: The bands on the harbour.
Ainsley Cox (Cornwall Council): The carriage on the harbour with lugger behind; Richard Williams distributing the medallions.
Chris Watts: All the rest.
Photos of the wagon
Rose Lewis: The wagon installed
Arron Redmore: Unloading the wagon
Dan Jones (Excess Energy Communications): The wagon team and the quarter scale model; The wagon team outside Pool Business & Enterprise Colege.
Jon Sidwell (Pool B&E College):Wagon construction pics.
Other bicentenary photos
They are on the same posting as the pictures.
Sunday 1 November 2009
Friday 30 October 2009
OTHER BICENTENARY PHOTOS
Picture titles and credits
(RL Rose Lewis, AH Angela Hooper, MT Maritime Trust, RJ Roger James)
The lugger 'Barnabus'
1 The lugger 'Barnabus' leaving harbour early Aug 6th. (RL)
2 The crew(RL)
3 Squeezingthrough (RL)
4 Arriving in harbour (AH)
5 Leaving. (RL)
Rusty the packhorse (All RL)
6,7 Walking the tramroad with friends October 25th.
8, 9, 10, 11 Last day of the exhibition
The exhibition (All RL)
12 Local and family history
13 Colin Saxton & the working model of the incline
14 Mineral Tramways section.
TRAMROAD ORE WAGON PHOTOS
The wagon installed in Greenfield gardens.Installing the wagon Dry fitting the wagon together.
The wagon building team.(above assembling the undereframe and 1/4 scale model)
Monday 26 October 2009
THE BICENTENARY WAGON 2009
A replica ore wagon of the Portreath tramroad has been installed in Greenfield Gardens, Portreath as a memorial to the laying of its first tramplate on October 25 1809 by Lord de Dunstanville, Sir Francis Bassett.
There is no original ore wagon in existance and the only surviving wagon from the Tramroad is the Director's carriage, probably the oldest surviving passenger rail carriage in existance, and now fully restored in Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. So the wagon had to be reconstructed from one short contemporary description of 1826/7 which had no illustrations. Fortunately Michael Messenger had already interpreted this description for King Edward Mine Museum where they made a half wagon for their new Mineral Tramways exhibit. A whole wagon is more complicated as it needs an axel and wheels that turn but provisional drawings were made knowing that they would probably have to be modified in the light of experience.
Materials are as authentic as possible. Cast iron wheels were cast from a wooden pattern made of the Director's carriage wheels made for the original Mineral Tramways exhibition at Old Cowlin's Mill in 1995 and later moved to King Edward Mine Museum. The ore wagon description clearly states there were six spokes whereas the Director's carriage has only five. But pattern making is a highly skilled and therefore expensive undertaking so we used what was already available. Four cast iron plates for the wagon to stand on were also cast from an original tramplate found in a local chimney breast. All the castings were made at Terrill Bros (Foundry), Hayle. The timber used was all reclaimed; sleepers for the under frame and sawn pine for the rest. The axel and itss fixings are mild steel.
The wagon building team consisted of five 12 to 13 year old boys of the after school design and technology club at Pool Business and Enterprise College supervised by members of staff Jon Sidwell and Phil Wood. Traditional methods were used as far as possible. First they constructed a quarter scale model to sort out construction methods but work could not begin in earnest until GCSE's were out of the way which left them just seven weeks before the end of term! It was a race against time.
The installation was also a big job. We needed authentic granite sleeper blocks to fix the cast iron plates to on which the wagon would stand. It all had to be secure and still look good. More drawings were made with the help of Angus Coyte who also caried out the works. King Edward Mine Museum kindly donated two original sleeper blocks in their possession, three were found buried in a bank within Portreath Parish Council's ownership (after much intensive searching) and one had to be made from part of an old granite gate post - easy with modern technology, probably not so easy two hundred years ago. The sleeper blocks are big and heavy and required quite an excavation and a concrete block with attached securing chain was buried at the same time. The cast tramplates did not arrive until after the sleeper blocks were installed but fortunately we had done our measuring well.
Securing the rails to the plates posed a problem. We wanted to use the original method of a wrought iron pin driven into an oak plug inserted into the hole. Well! wrought iron is no longer available so we had a local blacksmith make the pins from m ild steel. Originally the tram plates jumped up and down quite a bit with all the heavy wagons rolloing over them and the wear marks of the plate ends on extant sleeper blocks are often quite discernable. In other words the fixings were not very secure. So we had to abandon authenticity and use modern chemfix to secure the pins into the holes.
Installing the wagon. With fingers crossed and bated breath we rolled the wagon out of the workshop, and how easily it rolled, onto the low loader and down to Portreath. Had our measuring and workmanship been good enough? Would it all fit? Of course , it did and looks great. However once the wagon was chained to the buried block it could still be rolled a little and possibly tipped, not good if a toddler's fingers or toes got in the way. So we welded the wheels to the plate. It's immovable now.
The false bottom. This was originally to support copper ore (from South Crofy's shallow workings). Unfortunately this ore has a high sulphide content and rapidly oxidizes on exposure to air breaking down into a messy crumbling mass which would have rapidly rotted the wood. So Cornish granite rocks will be used instead when suitable ones have been located.
The plaque.This is reclaimed cornish granite made by R.Pascoe & Sons, monumental masons.
The wooden sleeper surround. This will be routed with an acknowledgement to Portreath Improvement Committee who genrously paid for the whole project.
The wagon project was part of the Bicentenary Celebrations organised by The Bicentenary Committee which came under the aegis of Portreath Parish Council. The project itself was managed by Rose Lewis and Mark Turner was the liason at Pool B&E College.
Sponsors: Portreath Improvements Committee for all materials, castings, installation costs, plaque, routing etc., R.Pascoe & Sons Monumental Masons who made and generously subsideised the plaque, and King Edward Mine Museum who donated granite sleeper blocks and lent the wooden wheel pattern.
Volunteers: Rose Lewis (Bicentenary Commitee) for project management; Michael Messenger for research and advice; Tony Brooks and Kingsley Rickard at KEM for advice and support; Nigel Mathew for drawings; The after school design and tech. club and staff at Pool B&E College (Jon Sidwell, Phil Wood, staff. Jake Quintrell, Alex Wills, Andrew Jones, Clint Humphrey, Chris Cock (Boys); Doug Coates and Graham (wagon moving); Ron Wooten for onsite carpentry; Boys of 'The BarnYouth Project' for onsite creocoting; Rick Ryan for welding; Erran Redmore for filming.
Apologies to any one missed out.
There is no original ore wagon in existance and the only surviving wagon from the Tramroad is the Director's carriage, probably the oldest surviving passenger rail carriage in existance, and now fully restored in Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. So the wagon had to be reconstructed from one short contemporary description of 1826/7 which had no illustrations. Fortunately Michael Messenger had already interpreted this description for King Edward Mine Museum where they made a half wagon for their new Mineral Tramways exhibit. A whole wagon is more complicated as it needs an axel and wheels that turn but provisional drawings were made knowing that they would probably have to be modified in the light of experience.
Materials are as authentic as possible. Cast iron wheels were cast from a wooden pattern made of the Director's carriage wheels made for the original Mineral Tramways exhibition at Old Cowlin's Mill in 1995 and later moved to King Edward Mine Museum. The ore wagon description clearly states there were six spokes whereas the Director's carriage has only five. But pattern making is a highly skilled and therefore expensive undertaking so we used what was already available. Four cast iron plates for the wagon to stand on were also cast from an original tramplate found in a local chimney breast. All the castings were made at Terrill Bros (Foundry), Hayle. The timber used was all reclaimed; sleepers for the under frame and sawn pine for the rest. The axel and itss fixings are mild steel.
The wagon building team consisted of five 12 to 13 year old boys of the after school design and technology club at Pool Business and Enterprise College supervised by members of staff Jon Sidwell and Phil Wood. Traditional methods were used as far as possible. First they constructed a quarter scale model to sort out construction methods but work could not begin in earnest until GCSE's were out of the way which left them just seven weeks before the end of term! It was a race against time.
The installation was also a big job. We needed authentic granite sleeper blocks to fix the cast iron plates to on which the wagon would stand. It all had to be secure and still look good. More drawings were made with the help of Angus Coyte who also caried out the works. King Edward Mine Museum kindly donated two original sleeper blocks in their possession, three were found buried in a bank within Portreath Parish Council's ownership (after much intensive searching) and one had to be made from part of an old granite gate post - easy with modern technology, probably not so easy two hundred years ago. The sleeper blocks are big and heavy and required quite an excavation and a concrete block with attached securing chain was buried at the same time. The cast tramplates did not arrive until after the sleeper blocks were installed but fortunately we had done our measuring well.
Securing the rails to the plates posed a problem. We wanted to use the original method of a wrought iron pin driven into an oak plug inserted into the hole. Well! wrought iron is no longer available so we had a local blacksmith make the pins from m ild steel. Originally the tram plates jumped up and down quite a bit with all the heavy wagons rolloing over them and the wear marks of the plate ends on extant sleeper blocks are often quite discernable. In other words the fixings were not very secure. So we had to abandon authenticity and use modern chemfix to secure the pins into the holes.
Installing the wagon. With fingers crossed and bated breath we rolled the wagon out of the workshop, and how easily it rolled, onto the low loader and down to Portreath. Had our measuring and workmanship been good enough? Would it all fit? Of course , it did and looks great. However once the wagon was chained to the buried block it could still be rolled a little and possibly tipped, not good if a toddler's fingers or toes got in the way. So we welded the wheels to the plate. It's immovable now.
The false bottom. This was originally to support copper ore (from South Crofy's shallow workings). Unfortunately this ore has a high sulphide content and rapidly oxidizes on exposure to air breaking down into a messy crumbling mass which would have rapidly rotted the wood. So Cornish granite rocks will be used instead when suitable ones have been located.
The plaque.This is reclaimed cornish granite made by R.Pascoe & Sons, monumental masons.
The wooden sleeper surround. This will be routed with an acknowledgement to Portreath Improvement Committee who genrously paid for the whole project.
The wagon project was part of the Bicentenary Celebrations organised by The Bicentenary Committee which came under the aegis of Portreath Parish Council. The project itself was managed by Rose Lewis and Mark Turner was the liason at Pool B&E College.
Sponsors: Portreath Improvements Committee for all materials, castings, installation costs, plaque, routing etc., R.Pascoe & Sons Monumental Masons who made and generously subsideised the plaque, and King Edward Mine Museum who donated granite sleeper blocks and lent the wooden wheel pattern.
Volunteers: Rose Lewis (Bicentenary Commitee) for project management; Michael Messenger for research and advice; Tony Brooks and Kingsley Rickard at KEM for advice and support; Nigel Mathew for drawings; The after school design and tech. club and staff at Pool B&E College (Jon Sidwell, Phil Wood, staff. Jake Quintrell, Alex Wills, Andrew Jones, Clint Humphrey, Chris Cock (Boys); Doug Coates and Graham (wagon moving); Ron Wooten for onsite carpentry; Boys of 'The BarnYouth Project' for onsite creocoting; Rick Ryan for welding; Erran Redmore for filming.
Apologies to any one missed out.
Monday 5 January 2009
EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY COSTUMES
The following illustrations show the costumes worn by the following people:
To enlarge the view double left click.
For a pattern of a Bal-maidens head-dress please contact Pippa Bray on 01209-820446
For help and information contact Doris Butler on 01209-842769
- Bal-maidens and other female workers.
- Miner, engineer, engineering worker.
- Sailors and servants.
- Farmer and farm workers.
- Varied group
- Wealthy landowner and his family.
To enlarge the view double left click.
For a pattern of a Bal-maidens head-dress please contact Pippa Bray on 01209-820446
For help and information contact Doris Butler on 01209-842769
BICENTENNIAL OF THE LAYING OF THE FIRST TRAMPLATE OF THE PORTREATH TRAMWAY
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Cornwall was remote by land from the rest of Britain and the fastest way to travel to London was by ship. Copper mining was once again expanding with the demands of the Napoleonic wars and output of copper ore was rapidly increasing as the more efficient steam engines of Trevithick were introduced to dewater the mines and raise the ore. Copper ore needed to be shipped to the copper smelters of South Wales and coal and other materials brought back to feed the mine engines.
The nearest port to the booming copper mines of North Downs, Treskerby and Poldice was the small North coast port of Portreath, four miles away along narrow, poorly surfaced tracks bogged down with mud and often impassable in winter. Along these 1000 mule loads of copper ore were carried every day to the detriment of the tracks and the costly frustration of all concerned. In addition the mules needed feeding and valuable arable land was being used to feed mules rather than people. The same situation was repeated throughout the mining areas of Cornwall.
Clearly something had to be done. Although horse drawn railways had been in operation for nearly a hundred years in the north, these ideas had not penetrated to Cornwall or indeed anywhere in the South West. South Wales, on the other hand, began building horse drawn mineral plateways at the end of the eighteenth century and these ideas were brought back by the big local mining families, the Williams and Foxes. They had major interests in the booming copper mines, shipping and both copper and iron smelters in South Wales. They leased land from the Basset family of Tehidy to build the Portreath Tramway which terminated at his port of Portreath, which they also leased and expanded. The first plate was laid on October 25th 1807 by Lord de Dunstanville to a volley of canon and was operational to North Downs coal yard by 1811-12.
The tramway was an immediate success and was extended to Poldice mine in 1918. and its three ton carrying horse drawn wagons were soon carrying most of the 25,000tons of copper ore that went out through Portreath annually.
Undoubtedly its success influenced John Taylor’s plan to link the rich copper mines of Redruth and his fabulous United Downs- Consols mines to Devoran, a plan which materialised as the horse drawn, later converted to steam, Redruth and Chasewater Railway. This was closely followed by the steam operated Hayle Railway which later became the West Cornwall railway which opened its first passenger service to the capital in 1859.
Although these later railways put the Portreath tramway out of business they owed their very existence to it, as did the many other mineral lines and later passenger lines in Cornwall. It enabled the great copper boom of the first half of the nineteenth century through the development of mineral lines and later Cornwall’s important tourist industry when passenger travel was linked to London in 1859.
The nearest port to the booming copper mines of North Downs, Treskerby and Poldice was the small North coast port of Portreath, four miles away along narrow, poorly surfaced tracks bogged down with mud and often impassable in winter. Along these 1000 mule loads of copper ore were carried every day to the detriment of the tracks and the costly frustration of all concerned. In addition the mules needed feeding and valuable arable land was being used to feed mules rather than people. The same situation was repeated throughout the mining areas of Cornwall.
Clearly something had to be done. Although horse drawn railways had been in operation for nearly a hundred years in the north, these ideas had not penetrated to Cornwall or indeed anywhere in the South West. South Wales, on the other hand, began building horse drawn mineral plateways at the end of the eighteenth century and these ideas were brought back by the big local mining families, the Williams and Foxes. They had major interests in the booming copper mines, shipping and both copper and iron smelters in South Wales. They leased land from the Basset family of Tehidy to build the Portreath Tramway which terminated at his port of Portreath, which they also leased and expanded. The first plate was laid on October 25th 1807 by Lord de Dunstanville to a volley of canon and was operational to North Downs coal yard by 1811-12.
The tramway was an immediate success and was extended to Poldice mine in 1918. and its three ton carrying horse drawn wagons were soon carrying most of the 25,000tons of copper ore that went out through Portreath annually.
Undoubtedly its success influenced John Taylor’s plan to link the rich copper mines of Redruth and his fabulous United Downs- Consols mines to Devoran, a plan which materialised as the horse drawn, later converted to steam, Redruth and Chasewater Railway. This was closely followed by the steam operated Hayle Railway which later became the West Cornwall railway which opened its first passenger service to the capital in 1859.
Although these later railways put the Portreath tramway out of business they owed their very existence to it, as did the many other mineral lines and later passenger lines in Cornwall. It enabled the great copper boom of the first half of the nineteenth century through the development of mineral lines and later Cornwall’s important tourist industry when passenger travel was linked to London in 1859.
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