RE: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Bob W wrote: The nearest plague pit to me that I know of is in Deptford, about 1.5 miles away in the church of St. Nicholas. The great Christopher Marlowe was thrown into the pit after he was murdered, and remains there to this day. People are not inclined to open plague pits. Which is why there is so much open space still in Blackheath. I used to spend 20 mins a day standing on a plague pit in the 80s (used to give me the creeps at night), although most people know it as Liverpool Street railway station. Here are some cheerful snaps of the church: http://www.web-options.com/Nick1.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick2.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick3.jpg Very cheery pictures! I love them. Malcolm
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Hi, People are not inclined to open plague pits. Which is why there is so much open space still in Blackheath. a popular misconception, it seems. The name Blackheath predates the Black Death and is apparently derived from the word 'bleak', which it certainly can be. Even if there were plague pits on the heath it has been dug up many times in the past. Many of the pits, mounds and burrows are from mining activity over the years. It was a source of gravel for ships' ballast which was taken down the hill to Ballast Quay on the river and transported from there. The Hellfire Club used to meet in caves under Blackheath. It's so riddled with caves and mineworkings that the A2 collapsed into one of them a couple of years ago, and had to be closed for months. Residents weren't too happy with the possibility of the ground swallowing their beautiful homes at any moment. But there was no fear of Black Death among the middle classes. There are several reasons for the open space having survived. First, it was a royal hunting ground for centuries. These tend to remain untouched, like Cranbourne Chase. It is still largely crown property. It's also strategically important. Armies used to marshall there before setting off along the Dover Road; or, in the case of various peasants' revolts and attempted invasions (including Julius Caesar), stopped there on the way from the coast before coming down to London. There's nothing quite like standing on Point Hill looking down over London and wishing you had an army... -- Cheers, Bob
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Frank wrote: There's still lots of Goth places around Queen and Bathurst. It would be fun to go down around there some night and shoot some of them. I do like bw film and they'd look best in bw... Thanks for the idea, Pat! g Go for it, Frank! As it happens, I got 3 rolls of Kodak bw film (BWC400?) for Christmas, and I'm doing a shoot with my favorite local model this afternoon. She's been asking me for months to work in bw, so here's my chance. I'll try contrastier lighting than I usually use, among other things. Should be fun! Pat White
re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Bob W wrote: In central London all building work has to have the archaeologists in first so the builders don't destroy stuff. If valuable relics are found then the building plans can be changed to enforce the preservation. Many modern buildings in the City have basements open to the public where you can go and look at the finds in situ. Bob, that stuff is interesting to me. They had a program on the tv here in the US about the huge graveyard full of plague victims that they found in London. Once in a while the US news networks report that unexploded WWII bombs were found. Is that something that happens often? I work in construction but we've never found anything except old bulkheads and chunks of concrete. Tom Reese
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Hi, Bob, that stuff is interesting to me. They had a program on the tv here in the US about the huge graveyard full of plague victims that they found in London. we have plague pits everywhere. It killed a lot of people and some communities still have festivals every year to celebrate their salvation - particularly well-dressings in Derbyshire, where they garland the wells with flowers. I think the pit you're talking about may have been at Spitalfields in London. This was formerly a medieval hospital - hence the name and the pits full of bones. The nearest plague pit to me that I know of is in Deptford, about 1.5 miles away in the church of St. Nicholas. The great Christopher Marlowe was thrown into the pit after he was murdered, and remains there to this day. People are not inclined to open plague pits. Here are some cheerful snaps of the church: http://www.web-options.com/Nick1.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick2.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick3.jpg This sort of thing is quite common here, and presumably also in other parts of Europe. One of the interesting beneficial side-effects of the plague in England was that as a result of so many deaths, demand for agricultural labour outstripped supply, which led to significant improvements in the power of the common man, the end of feudalism and the birth of the idea of ordinary people having rights and freedoms. Once in a while the US news networks report that unexploded WWII bombs were found. Is that something that happens often? Not so often any more. Still, we do find them occasionally. Greenwich, where I live, and its neighbours Deptford, the Isle of Dogs and Woolwich, were major targets during the war because of the docks. There is a block of flats being completed just now by the river. I've walked past it most days for the last 6 or 7 years. Last summer the path had to be closed for a while because the builders found what was described as 'ordnance' - an unexploded bomb - next to it. -- Cheers, Bob
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 20:57, Bob W wrote: Once in a while the US news networks report that unexploded WWII bombs were found. Is that something that happens often? Not so often any more. Still, we do find them occasionally. Greenwich, where I live, and its neighbours Deptford, the Isle of Dogs and Woolwich, were major targets during the war because of the docks. There is a block of flats being completed just now by the river. I've walked past it most days for the last 6 or 7 years. Last summer the path had to be closed for a while because the builders found what was described as 'ordnance' - an unexploded bomb - next to it. This also happens in the Netherlands from time to time. People in neighburhoods surrounding the site are evacuated, sometimes the railroads and highways are closed for a short while. As the bombs get older it is getting more dangerous. Also we have places where complete bombers and their crew crashed into the sea, areas which are now reclaimed land. Very often this is left alone out of respect, or carefully removed, the families informed, and the bodies burried. A lot of planes on their way to Germany or their way back to England didn't make it. -- Frits Wüthrich [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Bob W wrote: Hi, Bob, that stuff is interesting to me. They had a program on the tv here in the US about the huge graveyard full of plague victims that they found in London. we have plague pits everywhere. It killed a lot of people and some communities still have festivals every year to celebrate their salvation - particularly well-dressings in Derbyshire, where they garland the wells with flowers. [. . .] This sort of thing is quite common here, and presumably also in other parts of Europe. One of the interesting beneficial side-effects of the plague in England was that as a result of so many deaths, demand for agricultural labour outstripped supply, which led to significant improvements in the power of the common man, the end of feudalism and the birth of the idea of ordinary people having rights and freedoms. That's quite interesting! I never thought of it that way. Must have been asleep during that portion of my history lessons. When in Vienna one time, I visited a catacomb, under a cathedral I think, wherein tens of thousands of bones lie, all separated into femurs, skulls, humerous's, and such. Each bone had it's own place, and all skulls here, all femurs there, so neatly stacked. . . keith whaley
Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT
Nah, There's still lots of Goth places around Queen and Bathurst. It would be fun to go down around there some night and shoot some of them. I do like bw film and they'd look best in bw... Thanks for the idea, Pat! g cheers, frank The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true. -J. Robert Oppenheimer From: Pat White [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: boat, was: Unusual subjects to photo now OT Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 17:51:29 -0800 Frank, did you ever get a picture of Sanctuary, the vampire sex bar, on Queen West? When driving by late in the evening, I always chuckled at the sight of the wannabe vampires with the white faces and the black lipstick. Goth Central. It saddened me when it became a Starbucks about three or four years ago... Pat White _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcommpgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca
