Join me on my merry trek of old ruins, cinemas, railways and things that just catch my attention around Yorkshire and the UK. John.
View this post on Instagram Not a dumbwaiter, this is a paternoster lift in the Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield. Popular in tall government and university buildings built in the 50s and 60s there are now very few left due to safety concerns (they take a while to get used to). They can move much greater numbers of people quickly than traditional lifts as there is a loop of continually moving cars going up to the top and then back down the adjacent shaft, there are no doors. Sadly not working late in the day when I visited. The only other remainng working example in the UK I am aware of is in a University of Essex library building. The name comes from the resemblance to rosary or pater noster prayer beads and is Latin for ''Our Father'. A building I worked in during the 90s had a working system, they were good fun and I even got proficient at carrying cups of coffee on and off without spilling them... A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 16, 2018 at 3:29am PDT
Not a dumbwaiter, this is a paternoster lift in the Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield. Popular in tall government and university buildings built in the 50s and 60s there are now very few left due to safety concerns (they take a while to get used to). They can move much greater numbers of people quickly than traditional lifts as there is a loop of continually moving cars going up to the top and then back down the adjacent shaft, there are no doors. Sadly not working late in the day when I visited. The only other remainng working example in the UK I am aware of is in a University of Essex library building. The name comes from the resemblance to rosary or pater noster prayer beads and is Latin for ''Our Father'. A building I worked in during the 90s had a working system, they were good fun and I even got proficient at carrying cups of coffee on and off without spilling them...
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 16, 2018 at 3:29am PDT
View this post on Instagram Kinema in the Woods, Woodall Spa. Britain's only cinema using rear-projection, used because the low roof beams would get in the way of the light for a regular front projected screen. The cinema also has a Compton organ which is played before some screenings. The Spa Baths just over the car park were built because because of the curing effects of a local spring - when digging a shaft to look for (non-existant) coal they instead hit a spring. The shaft was abandoned and water overflowed into a stream where it cured sick cattle who drank it. People then started to drink the water as a cure. Sadly the Spa Baths are now derelict having been unused for decades following collapse of the well in the 80s. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 6:00pm PDT
Kinema in the Woods, Woodall Spa. Britain's only cinema using rear-projection, used because the low roof beams would get in the way of the light for a regular front projected screen. The cinema also has a Compton organ which is played before some screenings. The Spa Baths just over the car park were built because because of the curing effects of a local spring - when digging a shaft to look for (non-existant) coal they instead hit a spring. The shaft was abandoned and water overflowed into a stream where it cured sick cattle who drank it. People then started to drink the water as a cure. Sadly the Spa Baths are now derelict having been unused for decades following collapse of the well in the 80s.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 6:00pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Tyneside Cinema - Originally built as Newcastle’s News Theatre in 1937, today Tyneside Cinema is the only purpose-built newsreel theatre in the UK still operating as a cinema. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:44pm PDT
Tyneside Cinema - Originally built as Newcastle’s News Theatre in 1937, today Tyneside Cinema is the only purpose-built newsreel theatre in the UK still operating as a cinema.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:44pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Woolton Picture House. Liverpool's oldest independent cinema. John Lennon's childhood home was nearby, as is Strawberry Field. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:38pm PDT
Woolton Picture House. Liverpool's oldest independent cinema. John Lennon's childhood home was nearby, as is Strawberry Field.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:38pm PDT
View this post on Instagram The restored original Compton organ at the Stockport Plaza Super Cinema and Variety Theatre. It lights in an everchanging kaleidoscope of colour. Check out one of the occasional film showings in this beautifully restored building. They even play the National Anthem at the end if you hang around. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:31pm PDT
The restored original Compton organ at the Stockport Plaza Super Cinema and Variety Theatre. It lights in an everchanging kaleidoscope of colour. Check out one of the occasional film showings in this beautifully restored building. They even play the National Anthem at the end if you hang around.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:31pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Wells and Walsingham Light Railway #wellswalsinghamlightrailway #wellsandwalsinghamlightrailway #lightrailway #miniaturerailway #wellsnextthesea #heritagerailway #railway A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:22pm PDT
Wells and Walsingham Light Railway #wellswalsinghamlightrailway #wellsandwalsinghamlightrailway #lightrailway #miniaturerailway #wellsnextthesea #heritagerailway #railway
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:22pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Monument on Pen Dinas hill, Aberystwyth. It isn't an old chimney, it is monument to the Duke of Wellington, of whom a statue was meant to sit on top of the up-ended cannon #aberystwyth #pendinas #dukeofwellington #cannon #monument A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:13pm PDT
Monument on Pen Dinas hill, Aberystwyth. It isn't an old chimney, it is monument to the Duke of Wellington, of whom a statue was meant to sit on top of the up-ended cannon #aberystwyth #pendinas #dukeofwellington #cannon #monument
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:13pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. Auditorium is still lit by gaslight. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:05pm PDT
Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. Auditorium is still lit by gaslight.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:05pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Poundland's competition to Toblerone after Toblerone shrunk their bar :( Matterhorn vs Shropshire's Twin Peaks of the Wrekin (home of the area's TV transmitter, hooray!) and the adjoining Ercall hill. No longer available due to legal dispute, boo.#twinpeaksbar #toblerone #poundland A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:02pm PDT
Poundland's competition to Toblerone after Toblerone shrunk their bar :( Matterhorn vs Shropshire's Twin Peaks of the Wrekin (home of the area's TV transmitter, hooray!) and the adjoining Ercall hill. No longer available due to legal dispute, boo.#twinpeaksbar #toblerone #poundland
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 5:02pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Path of old tramway from drift mine to old brickworks in Heaton woods, Bradford. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:57pm PDT
Path of old tramway from drift mine to old brickworks in Heaton woods, Bradford.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:57pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Old ticket booth at Hebden Bridge Picture House. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:53pm PDT
Old ticket booth at Hebden Bridge Picture House.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:53pm PDT
View this post on Instagram The Rodgers 333 Olympic theatre organ is played regularly at the Rex cinema in Elland before film showings and during the interval on Saturday evenings and at Thursday morning senior screenings. There are also monthly organ concerts on Sundays. The cinema also has some old projection equipment on display. #cinemaorgan #rogersorgan #ellandrex #oldcinema A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:50pm PDT
The Rodgers 333 Olympic theatre organ is played regularly at the Rex cinema in Elland before film showings and during the interval on Saturday evenings and at Thursday morning senior screenings. There are also monthly organ concerts on Sundays. The cinema also has some old projection equipment on display. #cinemaorgan #rogersorgan #ellandrex #oldcinema
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:50pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Partially obscured portal to old mine at Appletree Worth west of Coniston Water. The adit goes a short distance before sharply turning right and going down a slight slope before a sharp left. The adit is under a foot or so of water before the left turn so I couldn't see down there #abandonedmine #mineentrance #mineportal #appletreeworth A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:40pm PDT
Partially obscured portal to old mine at Appletree Worth west of Coniston Water. The adit goes a short distance before sharply turning right and going down a slight slope before a sharp left. The adit is under a foot or so of water before the left turn so I couldn't see down there #abandonedmine #mineentrance #mineportal #appletreeworth
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:40pm PDT
View this post on Instagram Deeply curved screen for the Cinerama widescreen process. Images are projected from three separate 35mm film projectors to different parts of the screen where they formed a single image. Anamorphic lenses were not used unlike later processes (e.g. single camera 70mm Cinemascope). The process required three cameras as well and only a handful of films were made. Cinerama was one of many innovations in the 1950s to combat the rise of television viewing. Prior to the various wide-screen formats introduced in this era movies were filmed in 4:3 (also.used on old non-widescreen televisions) and the marginally wider Academy/1:1.375 aspect ratio This screen is at the Science and Media Museum in Bradford where Europe's only public Cinerama screen and projection facilities exist. I think the film I am watching here (South Seas Adventure) was digitally projected, but the Media Museum does retain physical film projectors which they use occasionally to show old Cinerama prints. A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:28pm PDT
Deeply curved screen for the Cinerama widescreen process. Images are projected from three separate 35mm film projectors to different parts of the screen where they formed a single image. Anamorphic lenses were not used unlike later processes (e.g. single camera 70mm Cinemascope). The process required three cameras as well and only a handful of films were made. Cinerama was one of many innovations in the 1950s to combat the rise of television viewing. Prior to the various wide-screen formats introduced in this era movies were filmed in 4:3 (also.used on old non-widescreen televisions) and the marginally wider Academy/1:1.375 aspect ratio This screen is at the Science and Media Museum in Bradford where Europe's only public Cinerama screen and projection facilities exist. I think the film I am watching here (South Seas Adventure) was digitally projected, but the Media Museum does retain physical film projectors which they use occasionally to show old Cinerama prints.
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Jun 10, 2018 at 4:28pm PDT
