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Messages - Sherwood

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 27
1
Nottinghamshire / Re: Nottingham Street?
« on: Wednesday 02 October 13 20:49 BST (UK)  »
If the 195 Mansfield Road is the one in the city then the building is still there.  193 and 195 are joined together as a shop on the ground floor (US first floor - not sure what Canadians call it!).  Looks like a three storey Victorian build, flat fronted with straight stone arches over the windows.  That entire stretch of Mansfield Road is shops, don't know whether that's how it's always been though quite likely as it's the main road from the north into the town centre.

Alfred Street South still exists but it is all industrial units - the "back to back" victorian houses were pulled down many years ago during a redevelopment of the entire area.

Dame Agnes Street is also long gone.  It was parallel to and north of Manning Street, off Woodborough Road, south of Alexander Park.

Don't know about Yorke Street but there was (still is in part) a York Street.  Again no houses anymore, just part of the complex of Victoria Shopping Centre, near the bus station.

None of the others are familiar to me.

Cheers, Sherwood.

2
Essex / Re: Emett clock in Eastgate, Basildon
« on: Saturday 17 November 12 20:53 GMT (UK)  »
It was still there in the Eastgate Centre when I last visited (around 12 months ago), next to Santa's Grotto, but it was quite inanimate.  I am from Nottingham and we also have an Emett clock (actually called The Time Fountain or The Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator) that was restored this year.  Our's plays some harpsichord music by J P Rameau.

There are some similarities between the two pieces, though the Nottingham one was commissioned around 1972 compared with 1981 for Eastgate.

Sherwood.

3
Essex / Emett clock in Eastgate, Basildon
« on: Wednesday 24 October 12 18:32 BST (UK)  »
OK, nothing to do with genealogy but hoping someone can share a bit of local knowledge on this historical timepiece  :-)

Anyone know what music used to emanate from the Pussiewillow III whimsical clock in Eastgate shopping centre, designed by Rowland Emett, before it lost its voice?

Also, are 'they' restoring it (or planning to restore it)?

Cheers,

Sherwood.


4
Nottinghamshire / Re: Martin
« on: Monday 08 October 12 22:05 BST (UK)  »
William George Martin (who married Sophia Marsh) is one of my direct ancestors - still trying to find out whether he was born in Lyons, France, and firm up the date of 1815.  I'm decended from his son, Robert Ignatious Martin (b 03-Aug-1839).  Seems to ba a strong connection with Nottingham lace industry (draughtsmen in the family).

5
Nottinghamshire / Re: The Caves - Who lived in them?
« on: Friday 24 August 12 23:02 BST (UK)  »
There is another complex under Peel Street, one under Cliff Road and a further one under Bridlesmith Gate.  I went 'digging' at Bridlesmith Gate and Cliff Road.

There were often wells and cesspits.  At one site there was a well right next to a cesspit.  We figured that 'stuff' must have seeped from the cesspit into the well.

Under Bridlesmith Gate I remember excavating lots of earth and broken Victorian china and clay pipes.  At the bottom  of a cesspit were the bones of a dog.  Did it fall in or was it simply dumped after dying?  Who knows!  The 'soil' we took out of the cesspit was black loamy compost.

It got quite hot and humid working down there so my mate rigged up piped fresh air (12 volt car blower motors and pipe made from strips of black bin liners.  Worked a treat!  He also sorted out proper lighting because we had been working like miners with battery lamps on out safety helmets.

Sherwood.

6
Nottinghamshire / Re: The Caves - Who lived in them?
« on: Friday 24 August 12 22:52 BST (UK)  »
In the mid-late 1970s I was involved with a group called 'Nottingham Historical Arts Society' that concerned itself with 'digging the caves' for the sake of archaeological interest and preservation.  By 'digging' I mean emptying the caves of the soil and other waste with which they were filled.

The unique thing about Nottingham caves is that they were man-made, carved into the Bunter sandstone on which most of the city stands.  They were often below public houses (used as store rooms for the ale due to constant temperature).  Other were used as tanneries.  There are many connected in 'complexes'.

The complex under the Broad Marsh shopping centre (near Middle Hill) was discovered during excavations to build the centre, and the developer was persuaded to take measures to avoid total destruction (they would have just filled them with concrete to ensure good foundations).  For several years the access was via an external door near to where the new Contemporary Arts Centre is.  That was until someone had the idea of commercialising them into a visitor attraction.

Sherwood.

7
Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Occupation in 1851 Census - COMPLETED
« on: Tuesday 07 June 11 14:53 BST (UK)  »
Hi,

I've attached an extract from HO107/2132/163/19. Trying to read the female occupation in the top row (it is repeated on the fourth row). I've included all occupations on the page to help when comparing letters.  The girls doing this job are 20, 18, 14 and 12 so I suspect it is not highly skilled.  It is in Nottingham so may be related to the lace trade.  Is it Cheviner?

Census is copyright of The National Archives.

Decided it was Cheviner - stitching diamond pattern up the leg of men's socks.


Sherwood

8
Technical Help / Re: Saving census records to my hard drive
« on: Friday 27 May 11 00:10 BST (UK)  »
Just to pick upon the "jpg losing quality every time you save it".  The thing here is that jpg is a "lossy" compression.  This means that it compromises quality to reduce size.  Some image editing programmes allow you to choose the compression ratio before saving (higher ratio means smaller file but lower quality).  Opening, viewing and closing doesn't affect the image.  However, opening, editing then saving does re-compress.  This is why you shouldn't use jpg as a format for saving intermediate versions when restoring photos, etc.

I concur that it's best to maximise the source commercial image before saving (e.g. view at 200%).  My saved census images range from around 500k to 1200k each.

sherwood.

9
Nottinghamshire / Re: "South-well" or "Suth-ull"?
« on: Thursday 26 May 11 23:44 BST (UK)  »
I'm Nottm born and bred and say "Suthell" but concur the knowledge that dwellers therein call it "South-well".

Maybe we need a thread to capture all this.  For instance "we" say "Fosson" for Foston (near Grantham) and "Illson" for Ilkeston.  I've also heard the uninformed say "Bass-fud" (as in Sea Bass) instead of "Base-fud" for Basford.

Sherwood

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