COVER Sir George POLLOCK Hon fellow & J. CHINN "IN DARKEST COBHAM'AfRICA"
2b "fLING fLONG WRONG" - with apologies
J "EDITORIAL '87" by VICTOR
4 "IN DARKEST COBHAM'AfRICA" continued
5 - 9 "GLASGOW - AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE HOUSE" by D. SLOAN
10/22 "CAMPSITES I HAVE KNOWN" by 'RIKKI'
11 - 12/23 "GROUP WORKSHOP '87 - BRITISH MUSEUM"
1J .:. 14 "SKELETONS GALORE" by E HOULDER LRPS
15/22 "TO DATE fOURTY GRAVES" by R. ALEXANDER
16 .- 17 "THE DIG AT STAffORD CASTLE'' by G. SITTIG ARPS
18 "LOOKING AHEAD" by Dr M.R. APTED
19 - 21 "CIVIL ENGINEERINGIN WALES" Exhibition by O.M. GIBBS LRPS
24/26 "READERS LETTERS"
25 "LETTERS TO AND fROM THE EDITOR"
26 - 27 28 "A & H.GROUP MINUTES fROM YESTERYEAR" by J. BROWN ARPS "THE DAVID CHARLES SUN DIRECTION INDICATOR" by T.E. GREY
29 JO
"THE RPS GETS THE BIRD" - with apologies to Amateur Photographer magazine
"GO fOR A DISTINCTION - 2" by JIM BROWN ARPS
31 COVER "THE §1!¥:1:CRYSTAL PALACE GROUP CONfERENCE" by VICTOR PROGRAMME '87
FLING - FLONG WRONG with apologies
Dear Sir - Herbert Smart is wrong to suggest that the Batchelor Mill at Little Chart was founded to make f!ongs for stereo production in 1940 (PW November 5) I have only been able to check its history back as far as the first Excise General List of 1816, when it was issued with Excise Number 35 in the name of Edward Pine. Many people would consider it chief claim to fame was that in the late 19th century under the ownership of Joseph Batchelor' it made the paper for William Morr.is. It seems that Morris himself designed s·ome of the mill's watermarks, including that used in the Kelmscott 'Chaucer' for which the paper was made at Little Chart.
When the mill ceased making fine pa by hand the rights in the name passeBarcham Green, which still makes paper : hand at its Hayle Mill at Maidstone. During the l 970's the mill had 90% ofmarket and was jointly owned by Bea _ brook Newpapers and the Wood F. Corporation of Hoosick Falls, New YIts Chairman, Calvin founding member of the Ephemera Soc. here, and on his visits to Little Char: to watch the waste paper bei through the bearers on the off-cha spotting some interesting item of ephemera.
Members of, the A &: H Group were fortunate in having in the April "Special Issuue" of the Journal, an entire magazine devoted to articles from our members.
~f you did'nt see a particular article that interested you, YOU know whom to blame for I_feel certain ~hat Editor Reggie Maso~ published everything that was submitted by our members.
Whilst a gr~at many members are quite content to sift through the not inconsiderable variety of offerings in "PROOF", it only takes ONE COMPLAINT at the paucity of articles - generally in the specialised subject of "FIELD ARCHEOLOGY" for the words "COMPLAINTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED" to creat ripples that make themselves felt quite disproportionately.
T~e. net effect has in a way been benef1c1al to those whose interest is dominated by "THE DIG". For this issue of "~ROOF" _seems almost top-heavy with a single subject. We aim to please. While many A &: H group members will be interested in this esoteric subject, and even in the details of a small and remote "DIG", of more interest still would be detailed information on how to obtain a good_ photographic record and perhaps deta1hng methods of achieving work up to a good DISTINCTION standard.
I wonder how many members appreciate that Groups have to be run by an elected Committee who (and for this YOUR voting paper is needed) put in hours of work just to make sure even the most ordinary things happen. This they do very much alone and unaided by R P S headquarters, except for payment of half the postage on Newsletter and provision of the address labels themselves.
Everything else in the name of the A &:H Group is by courtesy of one or other members of the Committee. Funding for EVERYTHING we do has to come from the Group subscriptions, from which 1596 VAT is deducted before it is passed on to our Hon Treasurer.
The balance of £2,98 after VAT permits reasonable communication with every single member, even those on the other side of the world, but not often and certainly NOT to the standard of the R p S Journal. The reason that some R P S Groups can publish professionally typeset and printed communications must be that private funding is available to their Committee or, as can happen, a Group member is in the PRINTING industry, Those Groups with a thousand or more members are also fortunate in that their orders are l_arge enough to attract •special rates, drastically ,re~ucing unit costs.
No, we are not envlous ~nd 'we are PROUD. If, however, our circumstances dictate that we . wear a ragged shirt, you may be dammed sure it's a clean shirt!
... IN DARKEST COB'HAMFRXKA:-
"Our two intrepid explorers standing at the entrance to the Great Surrey Gypsum Mine, whose mysterious galleries they are about to enter in an attemp to penetrate their furthest recesses."
Translation: Mr Jack Chinn and Sir George Pollock, Group Member and Hon _Fellow, standing in the main chamber of the Grotto at Painshill Park, Cobham, ·Surrey.
The roof of this chamber collapsed many years ago, and the archeological clearing operation involved the collection and remqval of over a ton of gypsum crystals, the mineral used to create the glittering effect inside.
Mr Chinn and Sir George are making an audio-visual programme on 'Archeology at Painshill Park' for schools, colleges and anyone else interested in learning about the work of the Park Trust during the past 3-4 years. This work is an essential preliminary to ·the restoration of the .buildings in this· exquisite 18th Century landscaped garden.
The Park can be visited by parties by prior arrangement with the Trust: contact the Painshill Park Trust, Sandown House, l High Street, ESHER, Surrey.
Mr Jack Chinn photographing the remaining gallery in the Grotto at Painshill Park which is at present undergoing restoration by the Painshill Park Trust.GLASGOWs AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE HOUSE 5.
By DA YID SLOANAsk anyone to name those towns and cities in Britain today which represent the most important repositories of our architectural heritage and the likes of Bath, York, Edinburgh and London will spring to mind. But surely not Glasgow?
However, within months of moving to Glasgow where I was based for three years from 1980, I was to appreciate just why the late Sir John Betjeman saw fit to declare that Glasgow had the finest Victorian architecture to be found anywhere in the world.
Despite the wholesale destruction of much of the inner city which was wrought by town planners and motorway builders alike during the sixties and seventies, Glas~ow is still endowed with a rich and varied legacy of buildings from the last century.
The exuberance and enormity of Glasgow's rich architectural inheritance is especially evident in the opulent 19th Century villa suburbs such as Kenvinside and Pollockshields West - not to mention the city centre which _is liberally studded with some of the more spectacular creations of the architects who dominated the Glasgow scene in the last decade of the last century and the first decade of this one.
Indeed, the Glasgow scene at the turn of the century was graced by a veritable galaxy of architectural starts, of which my personal favouraites are: Sir John James Burnett, John A Campbell, J. Gaff Gillespie, James Salomon II, Willliam Seiper and last but not least, the partnership of Donald Bruce and Edward May.
One especially famous name who made an indelible impression in sandstone and mortar on the city during this particular golden era was that of Charles Rennie Macintosh (1868-1-928). For all that he is the one Glasgow architect who, above all others, is likely to be mentioned from Land's End to John O'Groats by anyone who is even remotely interested in arch·tecture.
I must however confess that he is not one of my personal favourites and strikes me more as a pioneer of the Modern Movement and all that was to eventually
bring in the way of monotonous modern monoliths errected in such dismal abundance during the sixties and seventies.
Indeed the massive, almost blank fenestration of large areas of the Glasgow School of Art and the twin stair towers which dominate the front of his Scotland Street School bear a disturbing similarity to that which adorns, or should I say blankets the "glass stumps" of the post-war period of reconstruction and development which are so righly reviled by Prince Charles. ·.·
Having said that, there is one elevation and errection of his which is a particular favourite of mine; namely a purpose-btµlt structure which he designed for the "Glasgow Herald" newspaper. This was completed in 1895 and represented his first major contribution to the architecture of the city. Although it was constructed in partnership with one John Keppie of the Honeyman and Keppie practice and Keppie was formally in charge, all the preliminary sketches were Mackintosh's.
6.
GLASGOW: AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE .HOl,JSE
This building, his first major work, marked the commencement of the fourteen year period which saw Mackintiosh at the peak of his creative powers. It was during this hectic phase of his life that the two most critically acclaimed designs were translated into reality in the form of the Glasgow School of Art and the Scotland Street School.
His involvement in the building of the School of Art came about when the Governors of the School announced a competition for a new building in 1896, Having duly won the contest, Mackintosh · executed the construction of the School complex in two phases; the east wing came first in 1899, but due to financial constraints the School was not able to commission the errection of the west wing for another eight years, with the actual completion taking place two years later
The symmetry of the facade to both the east and west of the main entrance clearly shows that in the eight year hiatus - with all that implied in terms of rapidly changing architectural fashion - he was still adhering to the original overall ground plan.
What I like about this particular pile was the ever-so-subtle use of shallow relief, especially the minor segmental at pediments which are so deftly and d~li~ately reminiscent of the fuller blooded Baronial buildings of an earlier age. For an additional and slightly less restrained effect, two triangularly pointed 'Arts & Crafts' gables - a la La Voyseyadd to the building's overall attractiveness, However, at complete variance to all this. cleverly restrained subtelty is a gigantic water tower which errupts 150 feet fron the corner of the building. In keeping with the 'Arts & Craft' idiom of the day this tower is capped with an ogival roof. What is particularly interesting is that of one looks immediately beneath the overhand of this roof one finds that for reasons which defy all architectural and aesthetic logic the top floor of the tower is constructed of red brick - in sharp contrast to the red sandstone which was used for the rest of the tower and indeed, for the rest of the facade.
However, the east facing elevation, with its pronounced 'Arts &. Crafts' overtones, is is in sharp contrast to the forward-looking west side of the building. One can only assume that he kept to his original competition winning entry, deciding to do the logical thing and leave his more modernistic designs for the later stages of the School's reconstruction.
Indeed, it is the eastern facade which ls so highly acclaimed by architectural historians for its three twenty six foot high oriel windows, wheras contemporary Glasgow critics - rightly in my opinioncompared its functionalism unfavourably with the floridity of the creations of Burnet et al.
It is precisely because of his overt tendency toward Modernism that one cannot really regard him as the ultimate Art Nouveau architect
Indeed, the actual external architecture of his buildings is either distinctly Modern Movement (the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street being another example of this aspect of his work) or decidedly
GLASGOW: AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE HOUSE 7.
Arts &: Crafts as illustrated by his occasional incursions into church building, with the Queen's Cross Church to the north of the city being a particular example.
In the case of Hill House, a large villa which he constructed in nearby Helensburgh, he actually plumped for a synthesis of Baronial and Arts &: Crafts when settling for a final choice of design. Despite such a relatively conventional external treatment it is what he did within that revealed the true extent of his flair as a designer.
Hi11 House, which was errected in 1902, was a showpiece for his penchant for total design which took in everything right down to the subtly Art Nouveau floral motifs with which he embellished the wardrobes ·n the master bedroom.
Another interior which he tackled as a otal design concept was that of the Willow Tea Rooms (1904) in Sauchiehall Street which, unlike Hill House, is not .:otally preseved for posterity. Enough, !'\owever, remains of the interior to give '11ore than a hint of what the tea rooms -nust have looked like in their full glory.
Even the street front of the building is '11issing its original ground floor level, : eluding the florid Art Nouveau swing oors which once graced its entrance. However, with a few exceptions, including this door, his 'Modern Movement' exteriors - along with his almost entirely 'modern' ·nteriors complete with matching furniture and fittings - tended to sport only the '110St subtly refined Art Nouveau embell·shments. These would usually be floral in nature; doubtless a direct reference to is youthful passion for painting watercolours of flowers.
This dabbling in Art Nouveau is in contrast to the more full-blooded works of the likes of Gaudi and Guimard on the continent. This was often just too sinuously curved and outlandishly and outrageously decorative to be anything as remotely straightlines and geometrical as Mackintosh at his most modernist.
In summing up one can describe Mackintosh as an architect with a traditionalist heart and a modernist with his head most definitely ruling his heart when it came to the interior work which he carried out on his creations. He most certainly was not the extravagent exponent of art Nouveau that he is sometimes made out to be. Whilst on the subject ·of Art Nouveau in whatever guise it takes, it is perhaps appropriate to exa.mine the career of James Salmon II whose undoubted masterpiece is his 1902 office building in the heart of the city at 144 St. Vincent Street.
Although the facade is fairly restrained by continental standards, there is enough in the way of subtly sinuous and curved decoration to suggest that Salmon's designs were influenced by contemporary European practice. The curved lanternlike oriel windows above each of the entrances are decidedly Art Nouveau, whilst the segmental pediment adornding the first floor, although more subtle, is in · the same vein •
8. GLASG01h AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE HOUSE
Despite the ornate nature of some of the S<tulputre, the overall treatment of thefacade is highly restrained. This is particularly exemplifed by the fact that the four bay windows, which are symmetrically arranged in pairs at each end of the front elevation and which run from the first to the fourth floor, are embellished with nothing more than segmental p~diments carved in the shallowest of relief at first floor level.
These protruding ·bays are in fact all part of a cleverly symmetrical composition, with the gl'.ound floor comprising nine recurring. arches, of which eight are infilled with shop fronts, while the middle one comprises the main entrance to the building.
The Art Nouveau theme recurs in the gentle curvature· of the two balconies fronting the sixth floor, and in the odd and unusual shape _of the dormer windown on top. In its original state this building sported a massive finial above, thus earning it the nickname of "The Hatrack". So much for the fine details of the facade. It should however be said that the overall frontage of this building was very cleverly worked, Ten stories all told, including the basement, on a single Georgian house plot a mere 29 feet 6 inches wide and fronted to such an extent by glass that the stonework is whittled away to virtually nothing. There is however no need to throw one's hands into the air and cry out "Modern monolith!". Far from it. The overall compositional arrangement of the facade is based in three interlocked bays with the result that, save for the attic and the floor below, all of the windows are either recessed or protruding; thus obviating the fenestration monotony one would normally associate with such a highly glazed frontage as this.
Although "The Hatrack" is undoubtedly his best building, this is just one of ~everal with which he graced the city during a highly productive period from 1894 to 1905 {often in collaboration with his partner J, Gaff Gillespie).
His other nominally solo creation of note is the Mercantile Chambers at 53 Bothwell Street, which went up in 1898, Although he undoubtedly worked without the assistance of Gillespie when it came to the overall design and layout of the building, this essentially low-key but modern interpretation of the Germanic Gabled idiom would not have been bought to life without some stunning sculpture by J. Derwent Wood of London and James Youn of Glasgow. Of particular note is the pin sandstone depiction of "Mercury in hi Niche" which is located immediately abov the main entrance.
Almost equally stunning are the fou gigantic caryatids which embellish th facade at second floor level. Althoug this female statuary is undoubtedly mo umental it is not purely ornamental. Th pink ladies are arranged in pairs to ser as elaborate brackets to support the tv. small balconies on the floor above.
GLASGOW: AN ARCHITECTURAL TR~ASURE HOUSE 9.
Like the building referred to earlier, these arches are particuarly cleverly worked, with the four levels split into three distinct segments. The flanking bay window areas are on either side of a flatfronted central portion which is virtually unadorned save for Mercury and his four female friends which so cleverly break up the vrtual blankness of_this middle third of the composition.
This division into three distinct segments is continued into the upper floors, and each set of twin bay windows leads up to the subtly Baroque upper floors which are topped off by steeply pitched gables, continuing the symmetrical effect, whilst the plainly treated higher levels of the central section capped by nothing more than a small dome and flanking dormer windows only serve to further emphasise the symmetry of the composition.
In the next issue I shall focus on the work of J, Gaff Gillespie, including work done in collaboration with Salmon. I shall also be aking a look at just some of the many t·ne buildings erected by the prolific partnership of Sir John James Burnet and John A, Campbell.
DAVID SLOAN
CAMPSXTES X HAVE KNOWN
by RXKKJ:In thirty years of archeology, more than twenty with a camera of some ·kind, I have lived in all sorts of places.
Looking back, I now wish I had taken a picture of each campsite at the time. Of course, in those days, the impressions were so vivid that it seemed as if they would · stay in my memory forever. Unfortunately that has not been the case, so I decided to set down some of the more interesting and amusing memories before they fade away.
I recall one site (in the earlu seventies) which, on arrival presented the impression of a Somme battlefield. Mud was thickly plastered all over and some of the unfortunate diggers lost shoes WITHOUT REALISING IT! There was one tap, but it was at the wrong side of the mud, as was the ELSAN. Luckily we were forewarned, and decamped to an excellent field behind the local pub, with clean toilets, fresh water and the public bar within easy reach!
Another site we dug about the same time was in idyllic surroundings, situated among pine trees on the edge of a pretty river.
As I remember, the diggers were a particularly sociable lot, and on at least one occasion we all clubbed together to buy dozens of frozen chickens, sausages etc. from the local supermarket, and the lot were barbecued on an old wrought iron 1 gate over a wood fire.
On the same site I awoke one morening to the sound of rustling in our waste-box which was just inside the awning of the tent. Peering out, I saw a little creature straight off the label of a BABYCHAM bottle with its nose in the box. The following morning my wife, hearing a similar sound, carefully edged to the entrance in the hope of seeing the bambi. This time it was a bunch of rats and she woke me with a piercing scream!
During the very early sixties, we dug a Romano-British small far.ming settlement close to where Drax power station now stands. Out there, the lcmd is very flat and it is no unusual occourence to see a sea-going ship apparently moving across the fields.
On one occasion we held and open day for the locals, and an old farm labourer lost no time regaling us with local history.
"Did tha know, " he said "that Great Danes came up that theer river?" !!
Our director asked politely of they stuffed their Jong ears inside the horns on their helmets, but this witticism was totally lost on our local historian.
A few years later, the dig was on a Roman road on the outskirts of Leeds. The spot was again idyllic, with trees and a small stream. H Q was a caravan, with the diggers in tents around it. Each morning we filled the water-containers from the stream, and during tea breaks filled the_ teapots from the same source. One evening after work a couple of us walked upstream to try and find the source of this lovely beck. Imagine our horror when we found it flowed through a farm cess-pit! Amazingly nobody came to any harm from drinking that water, but the idyllic spot is now, of course, covered with houses.
Quite the nicest camp-site was during the first couple of seasons of the last SUTTON HOO dig. This would be 1967 /68 and the director and his wife were staying at the Wood Hall Hotel, Shottisham.
We lesser mortals were camping in the walled orchard behind the hotel, and all around us the apples and pears were beginning to ripen, but the best part was yet to be revealed. In the centre of the orchard there was a large marquee, and each evening dinner was served straight from the hotel kitchens! Talk about a Gourmet Excavation!
Most evenings we walked into Shottisham to the SORREL HORSE, where the Landlord and his wife made us most welcome. There was a Juke-Box in the back room, but for some reason it would only play "The Carnival is Over". To this day, that tune immediately brings back memories of SUTTON HOO as do the calls of wood-pidgeons which were common in the orchard.
We had several "Do's" in the SORREL HORSE. Mrs Markham baked all sorts of goodies, and the diggers, nearly a hundrec strong one year, sat around drinking. eating and singing.
BRITISH MUSEUM VISIT
12.
BRITISH IIUSEUII VISIT
BELOW: Members waiting for the "PERIPHERY CAMERA to complete Its rotation during Brian's demonstration. Photo by G. Chapman LRPS on 400150 colour fi Im.
ABOVE - Skull of Homo Saplens shot at British Museum - March 1987 - JW LEfT: Answer to Puzzle. leica camera placed on the turntable of the "PERIPHERY CAMERA".SKELETONS GALORE! 13.
by Brian Houlder
During the past eighteen months or so I have become sick and tired of excavating and photographing skeletons. It all began in September 1985 when our local archeological society, in conjunction with the County Archeological Service, began a weekend dig close to the parish church in Pontefract, Yorks.
At first all went well; post-medieval and Civil war features were dug and recorded, then medieval houses and workshops. Beneath these were found human remains, aligned east-west in the Christian manner. As we were only twenty yards from the churchyard, it seemed logical to supposed that we wer'e looking at a long-abandoned portion of the church burial grounds.
The area was ·scheduled for re-development, and as it seemed likely that there would be medieval levels here, close to both church and castle, a dig was arranged. Direction was by Tony Wilmott, a taciturn professional of vast experience, the local society provided the diggers, and in my folly I volunteered to do the photography.
Many of the skeletons were badly decomposed, one having only a set of tooth enamel remaining, and he/she was promptly labelled THE CHESHIRE CAT COFFIN,
SKELETONS GALORE! -
By this time our deadline for quitting the site was fast approaching, and it was decided to work over Christmas, having only Christmas Day off! So, whilst the rest of the nation spent Yule in a happy haze of wellbeing, a small band of dedicated archeologists laboured away to peel back the pages _of the past!
Actually we !lad to chip away the said pages, as by now the ground was frozen .hard. Fortified with flasks of turkey soup and other combestibles, we chipped away while cursing the weather. The few passers-by must have though we were crazy, but probably secretly envied us. As each grave was cleaned, I photographed it from the tripid using HP5 and RDP 100. We finished on New Year's Day and, apart from the processing, my job appeared to be over.
Towards the end of January, the workmen doing a road re-alignment close to the site found a lot more skeletons. Our team was re-constituted (sounds like Campbell's Soup!) and the cemetry, as it turned out to be, was dug. ·
The full story was told in my articles in the PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL in May 1986. This time the mud was so thick that any tripod work was impossible, and I had to rely on the good nature of HP5 and 3M 400. The discovery of a Saxon church ended the threat to the site, and the Unit took over and completed the excavations.
As I write, the foundatiuons of the Saxon chl!rch are being conserved, and Cl4 dates now available for two of the skeletons give dates of AD 920 :1: 50 and AD 690 :1:50.Our church and its associated population are amongs · the earliest Christian sites in Yorkshire.
The professional dig finished around Spring Bank Holiday (correctly speaking, Whitsuntide), and most of us thought our contact with skeletons on the site was ended. BUT, one Saturday morning halfway through November last, I received a telephone call to the effect than another ancient ·cemetry had been discovered. As it was a Saturday, it was up to me as Excavation Director of our local Society, to arrange a dig.
The Unit helped with volunteer diggers and tools, but everything else was done by we amateurs. having said this, some of the said amateurs have been excavating skeletons for thirty years and more, whilst one was an ex-professional archeologist. A Home Office Licence is required to excavate human remains, but luckily the proximity of the new site to the old one allowed us to utilise the previous licence • During one Sunday afternoon, our small team cleaned, recorded and lifted sixteen deposits of human bones, and the site is illustrated in many of the· pictures in my first article in the April 1987 issue of THE PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL. Site-code BOX 86.
Early in February, having just delivered a short paper on the excavations to the C BA (4) Symposium in leeds, I returned home to a 'phone message that more skeletons had been found. This was becoming more than a joke!
The following morning, two of us investigated, finding that workmen with a JCB had skimmed the edge of a cliff near the previous site and cut into seven or eight graves.
Clearly visible in the section were the intrusions with two femurs sticking out of each. Bob and I carefully photographed the section, bagged the skeletons and returned home to write a report.
As I write this, I am expecting another phone call to go out and photograph yet more skeletons!
A MOVING STORY
AUTl-0~ and photographer Roger Darker tells us he is on the move this month to the sunnier climes of Malaga. Spain. Roger has built himself a villa complete with darkroom and studio, and he suggests fellow photographers doing projects in the area should contact him at La Villa Rosetta, El Curate, Campo de Camara, Almogia, Spain.
Dear VictQr,
The wonderful North Downs is where I, in 1946, decided I would like to live. The area was then sparsely populated, being largely farmland, open downland, and of course the Epsom Downs Race Course.
My wife and I with our two young children soon made friends, two of' whom were armers who worked large fields nearby. Housing development soon began apace, and the farmlands gradually made way for houses.
Some of the farmland was not immediately developed, but had no doubt already been earmarked for housing. Meanwhile it had returned to common land in appearance, a sort of no-man's land.
I had meanwhile become more and more interested in photography as a hobby, and rather inclined to the 'before and after' record variety. I had also joined the local Camera Club, and this year, 1986, we at the 'Club' are running a project 'Epsom Record'.
While prowling around for · suitable material for this project, I came upon another new housing development at Tadworth. The site-work appeared to have been started recently, and seemed a suitable subject for submission to our 'project'.
I met the builder's foreman and after a few moment's discussion he informed me that whilst preparing the site they had found some remains in the form of human bones. Would I like to see them on the site, which by now was being visited by the Curator of the local Museum.
I introduced myself as a member of !the R P S and the Epsom Camera Club find humbly and anxiously offered myself! as perhaps being of assistance ,as a photographer.
16.
DIGGERS AT STAFFORD CASTLE
INSIDE THE KEEP
LOOKING AHEAD
Conscientious readers of the Archeological Journal will know that our group was foun< in the mid 70's with appropriate ceremonial and a characteristically entertaining speech from Sir Mortimer Wheeler, surely the most renowed archeologist of the 20th century.
A decade later we survive as the Archeological and Heritage Group, with about 200 members, a full programme of events, an annual conference, a regular series of outings to a wide variety of places of interest and a Christmas party, ali duly recor~ed in "Proof", the Group's Newsletter. However, in recent months the Group has been criticised for failing to matcti up with the ideals expressed at the inaugural meeting, or to achieve the standards worthy of a learned Society. These criticisms are, of course, of the Group as a. whole, not just of the Group Committee· or of the Editor of Proof, since the Committee's role is to provide the services the Group members require, and likewise the Editor of 'Proof' can only print what material he receives.
Are these criticisms justified, and if so, what are we going to do about it?
It is firstly worth noting that the Chairman at the inaugural meeting took care to define archeology in the broadest terms. He stated that we had to be clear that "archeological photography" covered the whole range of antiquities, not only excavations, and included the photography of coins, the photography of museums, and the photography of ancient monuments as they stand i_n the fields.
Our recent programme, with visits to places as diverse as Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, the home of Charles Darwin and the Photographic Department of the British Museum, fits this pattern well - with one exception. We have not visited a single excavation.
The reason for this is quite simple. When visits to excavations have been arranged, and there have been a number in recent years, few if any of the Group members have turned up. If we are honest, we must also admit that the number of Group members who turn up at any of our meetings is small, usually comprising the the Committee and "1-ie'- families.
In a sense the same th) g can be said of 'Proof'. This is proi"•Jiced at cost by members of the Group 1n their own time
using their own photographic and printing resources and therefore lacks the. polish of a fully professional publication.
'Proof' is certainly not (and was never intended to be) a vehicle for the publication of reports of excavations or similarly scholarly articles. It does however provide a forum which could be used for informal discussion of the methods used in . site photography and the like.
But the Editor can· only print what he receives, and this is normally the illustrated accounts of the Group's activities provided by members of the Committee combined with items of interest the Editor himself collects from other publications.
We must ther.efore admit we have become largely a Heritage rather than an Archeological Group, and that the numer of Group members who take any active part in our affairs is very small. So where can and do we go from here?
In the first instance the Committee has agreed to spend more on the production of 'Proof', and the quality of reproduction should improve accordingly. But that on its own is not enough.
Write to the Editor about your archeological interests and experiences, no matter what they may be. Surprisingly, if they interest you they will also interest other like-minded people. Why not come along to one of our meetings where you will find that the Group provides precisely what the Vice-President of the RP WS referred to at the inaugural meeting:-
"An opportunity for people with photographic interests to gather together for meetings; conversations and exchanges of thoughts to build up and improve the standards of archeological photography".
However, the amount of attention devoted to excavations and related subjects will only increase of field archeologists within the Group decide to play a more active role. If this happens then other excavators may also decide to join the Group and this could lead to something really worthwhile.
Never forget that the photographic recor of an excavation is the only (nearly) objective record of something that is usual!) to be destroyed, so that any improvemen: in the quality of that record is something to be welcomed.
The achievement of such an improvemen· is surely an· objective worthy of an learned Society.
Dr M.R. Apted
"CIVIL ENGINEERING IN WALES" EXHIBITION 19.
O.M. Gibbs LRPS
The idea for this exhibition arose from a discussion I had some four years ago with Richard Keen, an Assistant Keeper at the Museum, who recentl y left to join the National Trust.
Richard has an extensive knowledge of Industrial Archeology as well as a keen ·nterest in the lives of Welsh people :nvolved in the Industrial Revolution. I had retired somewhat early from a career ·n civil entineering and had been, for several years, representative for South ales in the Institution of Civil Engineer's Panel for Historical Engineering works, whose task it is to record notable works of -he past, and sometimes even the present.
e both felt that it was difficult to etermine a date on which to commence a istorical review of the subject, although it
·s generally agreed that the term "Civil Engineer" came into use during the 18th Century, and that John Smeaton was the first in this country to call himself thus.
evertheless the skills and techniques of ivil engineering clearly go back to earliest times. The Pyramids, and he many Roman aqueducts, harbours and roads all required accurate surveying, pre-planning and the assembly of large labour forces and material resources to overcome atural obstacles.
t is sometimes suggested that the term "civil" is used in the sense of being the opposite to "military", and no doubt there is some truth in this. But I suspect that it may also have been related to the increasing extent to which those with the appropriate skills found themselves commissioned by civilians, either private individuals or corporate bodies, and that this helped give rise to the term.
In any event, many of the early civil engineers were millwrights, accustomed to harnessing the power of wind and water. Others, such .as Thomas Telford, were skilled stonemasons, turning to architecture before becoming civil engineers.
Most of the great early Victorian engineers carried out work in Wales. Brunel engineered the standard gauge Taff Vale Railway in 1841 and the broad gauge South Wales Railway (now the main line), some ten years later, and docks at Briton Ferry.
Telford built notable canal aqueducts and improved the Holyhead road, while Robert Stephenson designed the Chester-Holyhead Railway. The Welsh themselves were more prominent on the contracting side.
We strove hard to present the exhibition in one historical sequence, but concluded eventually that such a wide variety of work was carried out, particularly in recent years, that adopting this approach would only lead to confusion. We therefore divided the exhibition into four broad categories: Transport: Power and Energy: Public Health and Building. The material for the exhibition was collected almost entirely by the Museum, my role being confined to suggesting possible sources; for the most part Consulting Engineers, Contractors and Public Authorities.
, In the later stages we had a great deal of assistance from Mr Stan Salt, who assembled much of the Public Health material; Mr Melfyn Lewis, who prepared the display on weld testing at Port Talbot Steelworks and from Dr Tom Shaw of the Severn Tidial Power Group who prepared the display on that topic.
I am not able to give a full list of the sources, although the table of acknowledgements will give a fair indication. I believe that a number of the historical photograps were provided by Gwynedd Record Office.
Although it could be argued that some of the works shown are not civil engineering as such, I feel that photographs depicting "the way we were" attract a good deal of public attention and add greatly to the interest of the exhibition.
Gwynedd Record Office also loaned plans deposited prior to the Ffestiniog Railway and Telford's reconstruction of the Holyhead Road, now the A5.
"CIVIL ENGINEERINGIN WALES"
The Welsh ··office, Transport and Highways Division, produced a photographic _album showing works carried ou~ in the '3~s, in<;luding a number of Opening Ce~em~nies which are full of interest to the h1stor1an. How the hat-making industry must have prospered in those days!
The framed engravings came from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust _and are, I believe, from the Elton Collection. The large oil painting, 'The Conference of Engineers at Britania Bridge', was loaned by the Institution of Civil Engineers and normally hangs in the entrance hall of the Institution off Parliament Square.
The copies of portraits of Smeaton and. James Simpson, the sixth President, came from the same source. The latter, a . Consulting Engineer, designed the first pumped water supply to Cardif and his steam beam pump, near the entrance door, is part of the Museum's permanent display.
This gave us an effective introduction to stories of cholera epidemics and the early days of public health engineering. Glamorgan Record · Office and the South Glamorgan Library Service both produced newspaper and other extracts on this topic.
The models of Crumlin Viaduct and of the Melingriffiths Water Pump came from the Cathays Park headquarters of the museum, as I believe d.q the three photographs by John Dillwyn ~1~wellyn of the building of Brunel's bridge·· at Chepstow.
The puUy blocks and wrought iron links from the Menai suspension Bridge have apparently been stored on site since the bridge was built.
Most of the remainder of the matrerial has been loaned by various firms or public bodies. It is common practice to photograph civil engineering works duri.ng construction, as photographs can contribute significantly to the establishment or refuting of claims for additional payment.
The quality varies widely, but there are some examples of first-class industrial photography, which firms have used both for advertising and to decorate their offices.
Finally I must pay tribute ·to the. Museum staff who worked exceptionally hard to have everything ready in -time for · the opening;· I must also thank the Curator, Dr J. Geraint Jenkins, for his friendly support.
References:
20.
"Industrial Archeology of Wales" by D. Morgan Rees, first Curator of the WIMM, published by David &: Charles.
"Civil Engineering Heritag·~,. Wales & Western England" Thomas Telford Limited
"A Glimpse of the. Past" Wales Tourist Board.
EXHIBITION POSTSCRIPT
The term "Civil Engineer" is little more than 200 years old, but engineering skills have been practised for several thousand years. Initially these efforts were devoted to building memorial structures--' such as pyramids, hill forts and castles.
In the mid-eighte_enth century the growing need for power and for better transport facilities led to a number of individuals establishing themselvses as civil engineers, able to advise potential clients, to design and executre large-scale works and promote them through Parliamentary and other means.
Many of these pioneers carried out work in Wales, and there has been no difficulty in showing examples of their activity, for much as endured to this day. There are also illustrations by contemporary artists, indicating the degree of public interest aroused at the time.
In later years many other engineers, rather anonymously, have built the railways, roads, dams, power stations, docks, airfields and factories which have helped Wales to become a modern nation.
We still have examples of pioneering works today; the Dinorwic hydro-electric scheme, the Conway submerged tunnels, the Grangetown viaducts, and hopefully soon. the Severn barrage - all notable by international engineering standards.
On a more domestic level our ability to travel, to enjoy the amenities provided by electricity, gas and water supplies, the telephone and television, all depend on large-scale civil engineering.
Civil engineers therefore play an important part in a very large industry which undertakes work in all parts of the world.
CIVIL ENGINEERING IN 1JALES
All sorts of engineers work in the civil field, from the University-trained -Chartered Engineer to the newest "tea-boy" on a small contract. Skilled engineering operatives in various trades as well as highly experienced General Foremen m~ke a vital contribution to all construction work.
Those with academic qualifications are divided into Chartered Engineers, Technician Engineers· and Engineering Technicians. Both South Wales University Colleges, UWIST and the Polytechnic of Wales, run degree courses, while the latter, along with the Technical Colleges ~un course for Technician Engineers and Engineering Technicians. All three g~ades require on-the-job training and experience before becoming fully qualified.
The Institution of Civil Engineers, founded in the 1820's, is the examining body ~n_d learned society for all Chartered Civil Engineers. The Society's London headquarters are in George Street,. o~f ·Parliament Square, and house the Society s Library.
The library contains a collection of the books and papers of the first President, · Thomas Telford, as well as paintings of his two finest engineering works, the Menai Suspension Bridge and the Pont-y-Scyllte Canal Aqueduct.
Qualified Civil Engineers have a wide variety of occupations to chose from. Those with an academic bent may become members of the University teaching staff or work in one of the research establishments.
Those practically minded, and in search of travel and an open-air life will work for contractors on site, while many others become consulting engineers, advising clients ranging from goverments to pri~ate individuals, and designing a great variety of works in every corner of the world.
Civil Engineering earns the U.K. upwards of £500 million per year in foreign currency.
Many Civil Engineers are employed in the various public services, some designing and building works for central and local government, others doing research and, of course, there are many in the Corps of Royal Engineers. ·
· Engineering is such a wide field that ere are upwards of a dozen profess1ona institutions to cover such individual activities as Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic, Chemical, and Mining ~n~ineering etc. etc. All perform similar functions for their members.
Technician Engineers and Engineering Technicians also have their own specialist institutions and sc:><:ieites.
Within the last few years Government has established the Engineering Coun~i~ ~hose function is to co-ordinate the activities of the various institutions, to maintain a register of qualified engineers ~nd to promote a realisation of the vital importance of engineering to the economy of the country.
As well as a headquarters in Londo~ the Engineering Council has 19 Regional Organisations. In South Wales the local "ECRO" promotes the "Openin~ Windows on Engineering" scheme, m ~hich yo':1n_g and recently qualified engineers visit schools to talk about the nature of their work.
ECRO also organises an annual lecture for members of the public and of the engineering profession and arranges an annual lecture in both Cardiff and Swansea for school children.
Several of the larger institutions have careers advisers active locally, and most will provide written information on re9uest regarding career prospects_ and educational requirements for their speciality.
1986 has been designated "Industry Year" with the intention of "Increasing understanding of the role of industry and its service to the Community". Virtually all our industry is based on the work of engineers, and it is now recognised that our future depends on our being able to produce goods and services ·which compete in all respects with those produced elsewhere throughout the world.
Considerable shortages of qualified and trained engineers exist today in several branches of the profession and it is widely acknowledged that too few of our cleverest young people, male and female> chose engineering as a profession.
Why not give it a thought?
FIN O.M. GibbsCAMPSITES I HAVE KNOWN•
Looking back, it is often the evenings in some local hostelry which stand out in the memory, sometimes more so than the actual excavations! My pictures of these times are regrettably few. Now and then I take them out and wallow in nostalgia, putting a rosy glow on most occasions.
We still chuckle about the time our tent was pitched in the corner of a potato field in Northants. , One day the farmer sprayed the field to kill the tops and our tent was invaded by thousands of particularly longlegged spiders. Though f~nny now, this incident nearly caused a divorce.
My excuse for having so few eveni pictures is that the size and wei~ht of t_ equipment then needed made 1t part1: ularly hampering to lug about, especial. the big wet-cell battery operated pac :which my electronic flash used in tho days.
There is no such excuse today, and I have already made a start recording tl 'sociable' side of local digs. Work furth_ afield will now have to wait till tchildren leave home.
If you are just getting into archologic=. photography, do not neglect to take so memory shots. More importantly, you w. be able to write a fully illustrated artic for "PROOF", which I have not been ab to do on this occasion.
-by Rikkicont. from p. 15
BRITISH MUSEUM VISIT
TO DATE •o GRAVES
1 appeared to be most welcome in that role and for three days 'covered' the excavation of dozens, or so it seemed to me, of graves. In addition to my photography I helped with other such menial tasks as stripping the top-soil-chalk to expose the outlines of the graves and treating the whole area preparatory to the more detailed and plan-of-site photography. The skeletons were subsequently exhumed and I reverted to the task of photographing them as they became visible. I humbly submit some samples of the hundred or so photograhs, as yet unsorted.
I have been advised that I must declare my ownership of the copyright of all my photographs of this 'find', but would hope that the Archeology and Heritage Group and the R P S would graciously consider using copies of your chosing for publication or display and _ I await your in_structions.
I enclose a few 'samples' and a copy of the local paper report. The site is believed to be Saxon.
Yours sincerely,
Ron Alexander
p.s. John Adams also became involved.
someof the A&H Group members who attended the GROUPworkshop at the special invitation of the Chief Photogrepher,Brien Tremeine FRPS et The .'British Museum.REAI)ERS LETTERS
tiers "1.ews
oear !,\r \-1.... r appeal tor me~t Journal.
1 note you l.n the curren years ,._,.\-1GrOUP ed tor 2 0 t the ha"e be 1on9 to attend -Although 1 1 t,a'l/8 t,ei,n unable a result noW,so tar ihl.S is not as because · tl.on. t bUt anY tune dl.sl.nteres • factor, · athY or ·& the tl.!118 ot ap l.n"ol'lfed, I. ding accot11· of di.stance~ n the cost ot t n bOUt tnl.s· not to ment io not bleat l.n9 a to tind -odetl.on. 1 .""' 1.s 1.111p0ssibl8 1 tllfl ly it for now -ob"1.ous t 8"ery00 8 • ••\-1GrOUP to sui t the ,... " 8 nues ad eccounts O I. h 1 1)81009 t,apPY to re :; Groups to wh c nd look t the l ne A&H a dol.ngs-o a1<in to t l to tel<e teal t110st I oein9 ab 8 t 1 d one daY to I oncroft 1.s no forwar ti'lle part. "" t p..utu111n1 re ac J nd 1as _ a tll0 nerl a hibition t<X> ter frOIII ea the. p..&H8)( doWn11 ed in to s ! b88" ta1<en call find it ~ad l onlY to Journal was wron9• d dont despair nne RPS the good worl< en ood 111anYot KeaP up nee~ t rOIII a 9 1.nterests don't your if you blY he'l/8 ,._,.HGrOUP '!le pr.oba t of the
Dear Victor
Enclosed ;Y of Offic nominations for the electi·on ers of the A&HG Liv in roup. g so fer eway from of activities and not h the centre contact with othe aving any personal r members make -1ng anyone rether difficult s nominathave nominated • I therefore h members of th w o heve run the show e Group so far. Quite successfuly
In order• for mem erent regions to ~rs living in diffacquainted w"th ome aware of or i eech oth be possibl er• WOUld it e to issue e complete with membership list addresses Thi pinpoint ereas out id • s should where membershi s e The London Region It may then is Pl!rticulerly strong possible to • meeting. Even if it arrange a the help of the r meens enlisting of the R.P.s. egionel organizers
the I em elso enclosing u.c a route map from ..., motorway to JS• rt and teal par 3t nea ·necti"l.ty. I< tor l.ndl.'llid• 1espi te 1 s you as 1.s "dentallY• a archeeol09Y
Hoping that it will Stefford castle. find it. help members to Looking forward to 1nc1 ces-whilst ues l preferen l interest · 1y ua IIIY rea I< pr1.111arl
fascl.nat 1.ng• aspect. 1 wor h '1/8 tiec· nerl.tage st and a nd
day soon. meeting you one G,Sittig,ARPS.
ST17 9YH the Nat 1.onal i ru c I.dent a tor the l" bY ac "protess 1.one bY a111bl. t 1.on
Ofll8 a tner then ,P6 interest ra GL20
d S 1.gn. st1.rlin°ish e ~ours etc.Ell.1\~\" to pUb• b8 prac f 1118111 b8rs.
p S '!lould it d addresses o a. {1.st of na111esan
Letter from overseas member "Leo Ireland"
Leo & your ed 1tor keep in touch during the yeer, Leo by 11Bssage tepe which seems a nice friendly way to interchange ideas and thoughts, A good idea recently suggested by Leo was that Metnbers , might like to undertake a project, between ourselves. that of going forth with camera & recording the imtnidiate surroundings where we live. Be it Metropolis or out of Town. Thet we make the effort to mount an exhibition of these photographs and what a worthwhile project this would be.
It we determined a certain size or number of ; mounted prints, these might be exhibited for other photographers to enjoy,even the public at large and who knows the interest roused could increase membership significantly.
A number of say 16xl2inch photographs tightly mounted on lightweight card would make a handy package to be exchanged between counties and COUNTRIES, We must ell know OF someone going abroad who would not object too much to taking e small package abroad & posting it in that Country Come on members. let Leo see thet his Idee bears fruit this year Kenses 66102 USA.
TO ANO
5th December 86.
Extract from a letter from K.Warr,RPS Secretary,Bath.
Dear Victor,
The Executive Committee of the Society has asked me to drop you~ line on the matter of your Group Newsletter. The Comm-ittee is most anxiuos that the Newsletters published by Groups should be a credit to the Society and, although it fully appre-iates the enormous amount of effort which must go into the prod-uction of "Proof", quite frankly it does not think that the publication befits a learned Society. I am sure you are very much aware that the Archaeology and Heritage Group was launched on a very high plain, with the opening ceremony performed by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, and whilst the Executive would in· no way wish to stifle the enjoyment which members of the Group obviosly get from the Group's activities, it would like to see articles of which the Royal Photographic Society - remembering that it is a Learned Society - can be proud.
I think if you were to examine the membership of the Arch·-aeology and Heritage Group it might become apparent that many of the renown Archaeologists who were originally members of the Group are no longer and one wonders wether this could be that their reputations might be adversely affected if they were known to be associated with the Groups present activities. I hope very much that you will not take offence at these remarks, but in view of the discussion at the Executive Committee, it is only right that you should know of the views expressed. Surely there is no reason why just as much fun and lighthearted content cannot be included in your Group's newsletter whils.t at the same time catering for the more learned aspects of the branch of photog-raphy with which the Group is concerned.
&A&H GROUP MINUTES FROM YESTERYEA
COMME!~TS ON LETTERFROMKENNETHWARR. ref:KRW/MA5-12-86.
Jim Brown ARPS.
par 3.
RENOWNARCHAEOLOGISTS(quote) HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITYTO ENSURE THAT THE ·GROUPWASRUN THE WAYTHEYWANTED. IT WOULDAPPEAR THAT THEY WERE NOT INCLINED TO DO SO OR WERE HAPPY TO LE.T OTHERS RUN THE GROUP·, AS THEY 'SAWFIT.
Membership and Reputation.
IF THIS WERE THE CASE WHYDID NOT THESE MEMBERSMAKE THEIR VIEWS FELT AND CONTRIBUTETO THE ACTIVITIES CiF THE GROUP7
CONTENT.
MORELEARNEDASPECTSCOULDBE INCLUDED IF THE MORE LEARNEDMEMBERSOF THE GRO~PWOULDWRITETHEM.
ME,MBERSHIP
ANYACTIVITIES OUTSIDETHE LONDON AREA ARE ATTENDEDBY MEMBERSFROM THE LONDONAREA. ACTIVITIES IN LONDON ATTENDED 0 BY THE SAMEMEMBERS.
PROOF
"PROOF" IS INTENDEDFOR CIRCULATION TO THE GROUP MEMBERS. THERE HAVE BEEN · NO COMPLAINTSFROMMEMBERSABOUT ITS GONTENTANDSTYLE.
OTHERPO!NTS TO NOTE.
GROUPFOUNDEDAS "ARCHAEOLOGY" "GROUP". SOME10J12 YEARSAGO. BY THE TIME OF THE "FINANCIALCRISIS" MANYOF 'IllE ORIGINALMf21BERSHADLEFf 'IllE GRO.JP. THE GROUPNAMEWASCHANGEDTO REFLECT THE INTEREST AND ACTIVITIES OF ITS MEMBERS.
HOWMANYOF THE RENOWNEDARCH-AEOLOGISTSARE STILL MEMBERSOF THE R.P.S. ? COULDIT BE THE R.P.S. WITH WHICH . THEY DID NOT WISH TO BE ASSOCIATED ? ( I WOULDTHINK THE ORIGINAL INTENTIONWAS ONLY TO USE THE R.P.S. ADDRESSAND NOT TO BE PART OF THE SOCIETY.
SHOULDTHE GROUPDISBANDAND ALL A&H PHOTOGRAPHYLEFT TO THE CBA& ENGLISH HERITAGE?
COULD THE RPS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SUGGESTMEMBERSWHOWOULDFORMA COMMITTEE WHO WOULDDO AS REQUIRED ? MEMBERSOF THE GROUP?APARTFROMTHE "FEW" WILL NOT TAKE AN ACTIVE POST.THEY WILL NOT CRITISIZE WHATIS DONE NEITHERWILL TH.EYSUGGESTALTERNATIVES.
WHY WAS THIS LETTER WRITTE. TO THE CHAIRMANAND NOT THESECRETAR THE EXECUTIVE EXPECTS US TO REPLY TO ITS SECRETARYNOT DIRECTL TO THE PRESIDENT.
THIS MATTERIS ONE WHICH MUS~ Dr M.R.A.formerly of D.O.E. Dr B.B.FRPS. BE DISCUSSEDBY THE GROUP'SCOMMITTEE.
C.B.Associated the C.B.A.
T.B.ARPS.RCHM.YORK.C.C."Journey :into space" IT IS IRREVELENTTTTHAT THE Dr V.G.W.H.Hon FRPS.(past PRESIDEN'P) PRODUCEROF THE "PROOF" IS ALSOGROUP Lt.Col.CDVK.MBE.Hon FRPS(past PRESIDENT) CHAIRMAN."PROOF" IS PRODUCEDBY HI'. M.S.K.3chool Conservation COPENHAGEN. ON BEHALF OF THE COMMITTEE,ITSELF Ms M.M.ARPS.NRJN.LRPS.GtrMANCHESTER ACTINGON BEHALFOF THE GROUPMEMBERS. Archaeology UNIT.
GJO.ARPS.Univ of CAMBRIDGEdeptANTHROP. DrPGHP.ARPS.AVONCROFTMuseum of BUILDING.
GBQ.FRPS.D.O.E.?(Scotland)
CJVR.Hon FRPS.(past PRESIDENT)
MsL.S.S. Photo dept:(Christies)
B.A.t.FRPS.BRITISH MUSEUM.
(A few names known personally of considerable "REPUTATION".ltomention just a few.
1978
1981
1986 169 group members. 131 group members 230 group members.(We must be doing something right)
cont. p. 27
MINUTESAGMFeb 1977.(Earliest available)
"THE GROUP WAS FORMEDWITH VARIOUS PROJECTS IN MIND; MANYOF THESE HAVE NOW HAD TO BE MODIFIED OR ABANDONED".
MINUTES. THE SOCIETY PAID £50 LAST Year FOR THEIR ISSUES OF "ARCHAEOLOG".
2nd JUNE 1980.
62 members not renewed.(MARY'S OFFER. OF £500).
CHAIRMANSREPORTAGM1980.
"IF MEMBERSHIPCAN BE HELDAT A REASONABLELEVELTHE GROUPCAN BE FULLYACTIVE AGAIN" John STUBBINGTON.
15th August 1981 ARCHAEOLOGYGROUPREPORT.
Dear Mr Walden, I should have written this letter ages ago. In fact straight after receiving the last Group Magazine, as I have a possible venue ~or a Group outing. Providing the Group 1s prepared to travel to Stafforshire once again!
The place is Stafford Castle, a working archeological site, but it would have to be o~ a Sunday because our Sunday diggers will be at work and guides, in 15th century costumes, are available to show visitors around.
Suitable dates are 21st June, 19th July and 23rd August, and I am including an illustrated article, which could be used to advertise the outing, or as a filler for "PROOF".
I can be contacted by phone on Stafford (0785) 52653 after 5pm, and preferably not later than 7pm as I am very much in demand by the local Photographic Society,
"ON THE WHOLEARCHAEOLOGYPHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE FIELD ARE MOSTLYARCHAEOLOGISTS RATHER THAN PHOTOGRAPHERSBY TRAINING AND INCLINATIONAND ARE NOi: INTERESTED IN JOINING THE R. P. S." "CONTINUINGSUCCESS OF 2nd INTERNATIONALEXHIBITION, MANYOF EXHIBITORS ARE IN FACTNOTGROUPMEMBERS.
ARCHAEOLOGYGROUPNEWSLETTERNo:l. AUGUST1981.
1980 WAS A BAD YEAR FOR THE GROUP OVERSPENT,STOPPEDARCHAEOLOG(newsletter) CANCELLEDPROGRAMMESAND LOST MUCH OF OURMEMBERSHIP.
******
*
(Archaeology group minutes extracted and supplied by J.BROWNARPS.)Janl987.
(Retiring Hon Secretary)
THE DAVID CHARLES
Back in the l 950's I had the oleasure of corresponding briefly with a fine photographer named• David Charles. I think he was then in his seventies and still active in P,hotography.
lie ~rote a book called "Commercial & Industrial Photography" which was, and still is, one of the most commonsense and pr:actical guides to be had. He did not _believe in the purchase of some expensive chrome-plated gadget if a couple of bits of string and perhaps an improvised plumb bob was likely to solve the problem.
Consequently, in a materialistic and gadget conscious age, his book never proved as popular as it ought to have done, but it has a lot to· offer the archeological photo_grapher.
One problem which he solved neatly and cheaply was how to decide at what time one ought to arrive at a site for photography in order to ge~ the most suitable angle of lighting· from the sun. He P,Ublished and described his "Sun Direction Indicator" in the British Journal of Photography Almanac of 1953, and my own re-drawn copy of this appears below.
Photograph this drawing on line film to produce a negative and print this negative on to another line film of around 7 x 5 inches to produce a black line positive on a completely dear background.
SUN INDICATOR
This can then be laid on one's proposed subject on either a 1" or 2.5" map, or a large-scale drawing of an archeological site, with the North-South centre line parallel to the N-S grid lines on a map. A line is chosen which gives the correct direction for the fall of the shadow, and the time shown on this line is then noted as being the best for photography. Be careful to chose the time on the angle (summer) line, the double (Spring/Autumn) line, or the heavy black winter line, whichever is appropriate. The Indicator can be accurate to within 15 minutes or so.
If the site. is a small object, such as a Pectish-Symbol Stone, a preliminary visit with a compass may be necessary to measure the bearing of the main face which one was wish to photograph with a glancing side sunlight to show the carving. Reference again to the Sun Direction Indicator wi11 show a suitable time.
Lengths of shadows can also be forecast by following the instructions at the bottom of the 11S DI".
David Charles was a great enthusiast and I know it would have pleased him immensely that a later g.eneration might find his idea useful.
by T.E. GrayTHE R-P-S-GETS
THE BIRDI
REPLY TO THE Joe Partridge Column by:-----------
Victor J. HEPPLETliWAITE ARPSNot as might be thought in the season of goodwill, a Christmas turkey. I refer of course to that article by "Joe Partridge" in the Amateur Photographer this December when he reviewed the value, or in this instance the non-value of RPS DISTINCTIONS. (Quote) ''How can DISTINCTIONS· possibly help you to take better pictures?" (unquote)
I well remember Victor Blackman, also a regular contributor to "Comic Cuts" uttering similar heresies years ago. It's all, different these days as Victor is now proud to display his FRPS, offered after a suitable interval for forgiveness. How long before our "Joe" will be Joe Partridge FRPS one wonders?
All sarcasm aside, many will be wondering and perhaps thinking along these lines. The answer cannot be a flat condemnation of the underlying principle of EARNED DISTINCTIONS, and in any field of endeavour, the opposite in fact must be far closer to the truth.
Admitting that in the case of Judges accustomed to "traditional" photography, they will sometimes apparently fall over themselves to praise this and that pictorial FAD in an attempt to be "with it", although it seems to many to be in the most appallingly poor taste, and merely an attempt to lend credibility to work of photographers who exhibit a total lack of adequate technique. Saved in many cases only by the sheer professionalism of the laboratory .actually producing the photographers work.
One only has to recall Exhibitions of not too many years ago when the very finest work (all processed by the Exhibitor) just happened to be the work of - you guessed it - an Associate of Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
The very sight of photography of this calibre is enough to create one of two ideas in the mind of the average amateur (and for that matter not a few Professionals). "I" will never be able to· do work like this - this idea being firmly based on the viewer's net output to that moment. Or, as in my own case, a fixed and abiding resolve to find out, however long it takes, the means_ of producing work just approaching such elevated standards. DISTINCTIONS are not even considered at this point. Not that is, unless you habitually put the cart before the horse!
29.
I need not go on to enumerate the obvious course of joining a local Camera ~lub, with the eventual aim, if the need is felt, of becoming a member of THE ROYAL. If the day ever dawns when people whose work you regularly admire begin to make approving nods in your direction, then, and only then should you even dr~am of submitting a panel for an RPS DISTINCTION.
This formula is NOT written on scred parchment and nailed over the portals of that hallowed Centre of Photography. It is simply my own homespun logic, evolved as each year seemed to produce more and ever more photographic disasters than the previous one.
When the output from my darkroom cupboard eventually began to emerge as a force to be reckoned with in my local Clubs, I then felt I might be ready to learn what that next step should be from those perfectionists who always had their work hung at major exhibitions.
I had much fun, as well as heartaches, finding out about the production of exhibition prints. All advice is not good advice, and not all that appears in print is truly GOSPEL. Taken with the traditional "Pinch of Sodium Chloride", the advice, the sweat and the empty boxes of expensive paper eventually added up to the distinction of ASSOCIATE.
How can ANYONE question the value of a DISTINCTION so obtained? It is currency is a world where there are no standards, its true value transcends all inflation and nothing surely, can DEVALUE the worth of a DISTINCTION that has been so hard won. Even leaving .the "ROYAL" and thus losing the right to append the letters after one's name in NO WAY lowers the achievement any more than being a PAST PRESIDENT lessens the value of the office. Nobody in their right mind can expect to obtain a distinction without EARNING it. If that is so, surely the very act of "Learning How It's Done" must simply make one a better photographer. No?
Some of us simple mortals just hav~ to have a goal to aim for. Getting there is what it's all about, so admit it "Joe Partridge" and don't expect everbody to be nacherly perfec."
P.S. Good· luck with your "Application"
.30.
GO FOR A DISTINCTION - 2
In the Summer '86 edition of "PROOF" John Walden wrote about gaining his L.R.P.S.
I want to tell you how the Group helped me to gain distinctions.
When I joined the Society - well the date doesn't really matter - I also joined the then Archeological Group because I liked to photograph old buildings, abbeys, canals anq so on.
i really did not know what to expect, but when the Group's Magazine arrived I was both impressed and intimidated. These guys were EXPERTS, and it seemed to me that I was the only member of the Group without a distinction.
I went to a couple of the Group's meetings at South Audley Street (yes, it was that long ago!) and was delighted to find everybody so friendly. Nobody asked "What distinctions do you have?" I was simply accepted as a member of the Group.
Then came the notice inviting prints to be submitted for the Group's Exhibition at Abingdon. Not for me, I thought. This exhibition will be full of pictures from the · experts, and· work from mere mortals would not even be considered.
The phone rang. "I am Chairman of the Group. Do you have three prints for the Exhibition?" (The Chairman lived near me - it was a local call!) "Bring me some prints and come to the Exhibition Dinner" he said.
With great fear and trepidation I selected three of my best prints and delivered them · to him. (Looking back at them now with their exhibition lables on the back I wonder how I dared submit them!) I even went to the Exhibition Dinner and the people present were not unkind to my pictures.
Another 'phone call. "As you are living close by, would you help with the Crystal Palace Conference ? 11 Before I really knew what was happening I was Group Secretary - but that is another story!
I continued to produce prints and members of the Group began to suggest 1'Apply for a Distinction." By now I was gaining confidence. I knew I could do it.
I sent off ten prints thinking that the L,R.P.S. was mine. In due course back came a letter: "Dear Mr Brown, I regret •
I took the prints to an advisory evening in London, and allowed them to be displayed for criticism. "This one wastes paper with a large area of nothing." "This one shows a complete lack of understanding of lighting." "I don't like cows anyway ••• " They left me with two pictures out of ten that were acceptable, but I now knew what they were looking for.
I made eight more prints and sent they away. The postage is unbelievable! In due course a brown envelope arrived addressed to: J.E. BROWN LRPS
I'd done it! I had arrived!
The nagging doubts ceased - I had gained a distinction! I was God's Gift to Photography - the Society should be pleased to have me as a member.
Within a few weeks the nagging doubts started again. "Of course the LRPS is only a start. Everybody should be able to get that. When are you going to apply for your ARPS?
O.K. I thought. I've got my LRPS, so the ARPS should be easy.
I sent off twelve prints. "These are well below standard" they said. I sent off twelve more. "Not sharp - poor lighting". Twelve more · "Lack of imagination".
I was beginning to get disheartened. Then I saw a successful panel at the Group's Exhibition. At last I knew what the judges were looking for. I modelled my fifth application on this panel.
The elation when the brown envelope arrived from Bath addressed to J.E. BROWN, A.R.P.S. was indescribable. Only I knew what disappointment and frustrations has occoured along the way. Only I knew how much encouragment I had been given by members of the Group. Only I knew how to celebrate this success!
The celebrations had not died down before I got a 'phone call: "ARPS is fine, but when are you going to apply for Fellowship?"
I will, I will, but right now I'm God's Gift to Photography again. • • • • • • •
THE*('& CRYSTAL PALACE CONFERENCE
This should of course read THE 1987 etc, but not operating the SHIFT KEY for the date results in an apparently rude exclamation • • • • • Maybe not, come to think about it!
0 en to all members the sub·ects selected as lectures workshops must of course cater for all aspects of A &:H Group activities.
FRIDAY: 5.30 for 6pm sherry reception with the President, Arthur Downes FRPS, followed by Brian Tremain, Chief Photographer of the British Museum on "EXPLORING CROSSED POLARISATION", followed by dinner at 8pm (Non-residents MUST book). A late-night filmshow will be preceeded by a lecture from John Adams ARPS.
As I write up the summer edition of "PROOF" - having requested Big Derek (our captive printer member) to go out and spend what is necessary to produce an issue just like the other Group Newsletters, I can't help a little nail-biting in case HQ refuse to meet the additional expenditure.
THE A & H GROUP NEWSLETTER IS PRODUCED VOLUNTARILy AT COST or MATERIALS AND BOUGHTOUT SERVICES.
EDITED by Victor Hepplethwalte ARPS
SATURDAY 6.30am - early morning JOG in- the parklands.
10.30am - Dr Mike
Apted on: "The UNESCO Convention for Monuments of World Importance"
11.30am - Gwyll Owen ARPS on: "JCB &: Onions" illustrated with slides.
12.30am - Lunch.
2.15pm A&:H GROUP A.G.M.
3.45pm - Reggie Mason FRPS, Editor RPS Journal on: "Pictures for Publication".
6.15pm - President Arthur Downes FRPS "Qualities sought in a Distinction panel".
7.30pm THAT SATURDAY NIGHT DINNER. (dress optional) Guests of Honour: the RPS President and his Lady.
9.30pm - After-Dinner technical discussion led by Gwyll Owen "Copying Slides &: Photographs".
Towards midnight - Late night film show: "Coventry Cathedral" &: "Built to Sink".
SUNDAY 6.30am - early morning JOG in the parklands.
l 0.30am - Mr CAD.
11.30am - Nigel Neil on: "Work of the Greater Manchester A_rcheological Trust"
12.30am - LUNCH
2.15pm - Rev. R. Pitt on "The Siting of Herod's Temple". Other well-known speakers at the weekend include Derek Merfield ARPS, John Walden LRPS, and further speakers as yet unconfirmed. There will be a short talk on atempts to ensure "THE PERFECT NEGATIVE".
The Conference ends around 4.30 / 5pm
TYPESET (mostly) PRINTED AND BOUND BY:Oerek Merfleld ARPS, who also did the HALf - TONE SCREENINGend PLA TEMAKING.
