St PETER and St PAUL`S CHURCH......OLD BOLINGBROKE.

Built about 1363 by John of Gaunt and originally three times its present size. This greenstone ( Spilsby sandstone ) church suffered at the hands of Oliver Cromwell and his fellow parliamentarians as they laid siege to the royalist stronghold at Bolingbroke castle in 1643. It was restored and the north aisle added, at a cost of £3000 under the direction of eminent local architect James Fowler of Louth in 1889 - 90.

 

Shield in the Old village of Bolingbroke.

 

 

 

Plaque in the old village of Bolingbroke.

 

It reads:-  The royal village of Old Bolingbroke. The shield bears the arms of Edmond first earl of Lancaster. These are the arms of the Duchy of Lancaster who presented the shield to this village on August 4th 1966, in commemoration of the birth in Bolingbroke Castle in 1366 of Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster, King Henry iv of England. The roses are the original rose of Lancaster, grown in  Provins and adopted by Edmund as his emblem in 1280. They are a gift to the village from the Mayor and people of Provins, March 1967.

 

 

 

Entrance to church grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the day we visited this lovely church, it was closed, so we was unable to get photos inside.

 

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TRAMS # 3.

 

NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT STEAM TRAM No 47.  1885.

 

Built in the Beyer Peacock works in Gorton, Manchester uk in 1885. This steam tram was destined for export and as it was expected to be pulling much heaver loads it was much larger than those built for the home market. With 30 inch driving wheels and weighing almost 16 tons it was a true giant of a tram engine, although it did boast a number of features in common with other road going locomotives including the fully enclosed wheels and a mechanism in this case a `Wilkinson patent` exhaust superheater that was designed to reduce the amount of smoke emitted. It was shipped out to Australia in April 1885 so that it could be assessed by the New South Wales government tramways for possible use on the Redfern Station route in Sydney, but because it proved unsatisfactory in operation, running short of steam despite being heavy on fuel, it lost out to a rival design.

 

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LEAMINGTON and WARWICK TRAMWAYS and OMNIBUS COMPANY No 1. 1881.

 

Leamington and Warwick 1 is an open topped double decked horse tram that once ran on a single track tram line from Leamington Spa railway station to the Lord Leycester Hospital ( actually an ancient alms house ) in Warwick. The tramway opened for passengers on 21st November 1881 and the three mile length of line was covered in 50 minutes at a cost of 3d. Two well known Leamington men were actively involved in setting up the company as a result of which the first trams were known as `Wackrill and Brights Rattlesnakes`.

 





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GLASGOW CORPORATION TRANSPORT No 1282.  1940.

 

These tramcars were intended to serve as ambassadors for the city, they were built to the highest level of specification and are considered to be among the most luxurious of tramcars ever to have entered public service. These double deck, fully enclosed bogie electric tramcars entered service in 1940. The seating capacity was 26 downstairs and 38 upstairs. Withdrawn from service in 1962.

 

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LEEDS CITY TRANSPORT No 345.  1921.

 

Leeds 345 was originally built in house by Leeds City Transport in 1921 as a typical open balcony four wheeler with reversed stairs, in common with virtually the entire Leeds passenger fleet at the time. As the Leeds fleet was modernised during the 1930s, however the open balcony cars appeared increasingly obsolete even though they were still by this stage less than 20 years old. As this was also an era of financial stringency, the transport committee decided that instead of replacing them all with new trams they would convert the later ones such as 345 with the aim of modernising their appearance and thereby extending their working lives.

 

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LONDON UNITED TRAMWAYS No 159.  1902.

 

As a mode of mass transportation, tramcars are not normally associated with the luxury end of the transport market, but in early Edwardian days, when private cars were still a rarity, tram operators in affluent areas might expect reasonable levels of patronage provided they were able to offer superior levels of comfort and style. One such operator was London United Tramways, which began providing electric passenger tram services in the fashionable west London districts of Hampton Court, Hammersmith and Wimbledon in 1901. In order to appeal to the well-heeled passengers living along many of their routes, London United Tramways purchased a large batch ( 150 ) of W class tramcars built to an elegant Edwardian design featuring six Tudor arch windows from the Shropshire based factory of G.F. Milnes. The basic design was an open top, short canopy, double deck bogie car whose lower deck was sumptuously furnished with carpets, curtains, padded seating and inlaid walnut ceiling while upper deck was finished off with an elaborate wire mesh screen.

 

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LIVERPOOL CORPORATION No 869.  1936.

 

Liverpool was one of Britain's first generation tramway `giants` being the third largest system in England with 97 miles of routes by the end of the war and a fleet of some 744 tramcars, of which a significant number had been built in the 1930s. In contrast with many other major British cities, Liverpool was actively investing in its tramway during the 1930s by building new routes and renewing its fleet with more modern cars. The performance of 12 double decker bogie cars which entered service in 1931/32 radically transformed the public attitude towards the city's trams as these 70 seat air brake cars were fast, comfortable and represented a clear departure from the rather conventional looking four wheel vehicles that had previously provided the backbone of the fleet.

 

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OPORTO TRAMWAYS No 273.  1928.

 

This is a design that became popular in North America and in several continental tramways, particularly those enjoying warmer climates than we tend to experience here in the UK. Known as the semi - convertible tramcar as patented by the American manufacturer J.G.Brill, this particular design was in effect, a hybrid vehicle, offering a kind of half way house between traditional wooden bodied open sided tramcars of the kind that operated in many British seaside resorts during the summer months and the fully enclosed tramcars that came to be favoured by most inland tramway systems. In parts of  North America where the climate veered from extremely hot during the summer months to exceedingly cold in winter, many tramway operators originally operated fleets of both types of cars, which was extremely expensive and wasteful. The manufacturer of the body was Oporto Transport and the manufacturer of the truck was BSI Brill 39E bogies. Withdrawn from service in 1995.

 

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AIRCRAFT ENGINES # 2.

 

ADOUR 102.

 

Manufacturer - Rolls Royce Turbomeca. Type - twin spool reheated turbofan. Primary use - Sepecat Jaguar. Performance - 5,165lbs static thrust, 7,380lbs maximum reheat. Entered service - 1973. General information - the Adour was jointly developed by an Anglo-French consortium to power the Jaguar. Thrust to weight ratio was 3.3 to 1 (dry power).

 

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KESTREL XVI.

 

Manufacturer - Rolls Royce. Type - V12 super charged water cooled piston. Primary use - Hawker Fury, Hawker Hart. Performance - 670hp. Entered service - 1935. General information - The first Rolls Royce design to use a cast block and a pressurized cooling system.

 

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MERLIN 28.  ( cut away view ).

 

Manufacturer - Packard ( Rolls Royce licence built ). Type - 12 cylinder water cooled piston engine. Primary use- Avro Lancaster, Hawker Hurricane, Curtis Kittyhawk. Performance - 1,390hp. Entered service - 1941. General information - The US Packard Company built over 55,000 Merlin engines during world war two for both British and American use.

 

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LEONIDES 503/7A. ( cut away view ).

 

Manufacturer - Alvis. Type - 9 cylinder radial piston engine. Primary use - Percival Pembroke, Scottish Aviation Pioneer CC1. Performance - 540hp. Entered service - 1950. General information - There were many variants of the Leonides which was used in fixed wing, helicopters, military and civil aircraft.

 

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BRISTOL 605. ( BRISTOL SIDDELEY ).

 

This rocket motor was designed for BAC Buccaneer aircraft to provide assisted take off thrust, but was only fitted to the S50 variant used by the South African Air Force. It is a twin chamber rocket providing sea level static thrust of 8,000lbs and was fitted forward of the lower air brakes.

 

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STENTOR BSST1. ( cut away view ).

 

Manufacturer - Bristol Siddeley. Type - twin chamber liquid fuelled rocket engine. Primary use - Hawker Siddeley Blue Steel Nuclear stand off bomb. Performance - 20,000lbs thrust. Entered service - 1962. General information - This engine used Kerosene and Hydrogen Peroxide to power the blue steel nuclear stand off bomb at speeds up to mach 2.6 and to a distance of 104 miles from the launch aircraft. It is made largely of  stainless steel.

 

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DOUBLE SPECTRE.

 

Manufacturer - Bristol Siddeley. Type - liquid fuelled rocket. Primary use - Hawker Siddeley Blue Steel test vehicles. Performance - 8,000 - 16,000lbs thrust. Entered service - 1959. General information - This development rocket was used to power test versions of the Blue Steel missile. It was also considered for the Saunders Roe P.177 rocket powered interceptor.

 

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SUPER SPRITE.

 

Manufacturer - DE Havilland. Type - liquid fuelled rocket motor. Primary use - assisted take off unit for Vickers Valiant.  Performance - 42,000lbs for 40 seconds. Entered service - 1955. General information - The Super Sprite was the first rocket engine to receive type approval for quantity production and general service use.

 

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SPECTRE.

 

Manufacturer - DE Havilland. Type - liquid fuelled rocket. Primary use - Saunders Roe S.R.53. Performance - 8,000lbs thrust. Entered service - 1954. General information - This engine was used to power an aircraft capable of climbing to 50,000 feet in two minutes 12 seconds.

 

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WALTER 109 - 500A.

 



 

Manufacturer - Walterwerke. Type - liquid fuelled rocket. Primary use - Dornier DO 18 Flying Boat, Heinkel HE 111, Messerschmitt ME 321. Performance - 1,100lbs for 30 seconds. Entered service - 1942. General information - This motor was used as an assisted take off unit for heavy aircraft.

 

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SANDAL CASTLE.

Sandal Castle was established in the 12th century and was one of two castles overlooking the town of Wakefield, England and the crossing point of the river Calder. Much of what we see here today at Sandal is the work of the Warenne family who established the castle and developed it. The first castle was built in wood; the stone ruins we have today largely date from the 13th century. From 1361 the castle was in the hands of royal owners and gradually began to decline. The only exception to this decline is between 1482 and 1485 when king Richard III made major improvements to the castle. This made it defensible and more comfortable. The decline continued until 1646 in the middle of the English Civil wars when the castle was finally sacked by order of parliament.

Artists impression of the castle.

Artists impression of the castles layout

THE CASTLE AS IT IS TODAY.

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