Heritage Photography March 2024

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

March 2024

Editor

David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org

Advertising enquiries

David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org

Archaeology & Heritage Group Committee Members

Chair

Heather LaurencePhD heritagechair@rps.org

Heritage Photography editor

David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org

Honorary Secretary

Amanda Miller LRPS heritagesec@rps.org

Financial Officer

David Bryson FRPS heritagetreasurer@rps.org

Web editor

Jim Souper ARPS

Military Heritage and Distribution

Shaun Parkes LDPS heritagemilitary@rps.org

Perspective: Collections

DAVID BRYSON FRPS

Welcome to the March issue of Heritage Photography

This issue looks at several collections starting with the fascinating world of paperweights from a collection that I photographed for a friend then the photographs by Heather Laurence PhD showing the remarkable work and collection of bricks and the construction of a monumental wall during the pandemic lockdowns by Chris Tilney.

This is followed by the photographs of Hellifield Railway station definitely a place to visit by Natalie Hough LRPS.

Then how I photographed the graffiti on a series of doors in Derby Gaol with examples.

Please do look at the regular broadcasts for the timing of future issues. If you have any ideas for articles or series of photographs or would like to get feedback about an idea for a submission or to send me an article please contact me by e-mail. heritage.

editor@rps.org and I can send you a file request via dropbox.

E-mail Reminder

Do remember to add and if necessary update your e-mail details on your RPS profile so we can contact you through the RPS’s Broadcast system.

Facebook

Don’t forget the regular monthly competition for likes on our private facebook group at https://www. facebook.com/groups/rpsah

Quintessentially English: Afternoon tea outside during the Three Choirs Festival 1984.

Chair’s Chat: Hello from Heather

Hello, welcome to another edition of our wonderful magazine, and as always, a huge thank you to David and Shaun for all the hard work and effort they put into getting this together and distribution. (As a full time editor and photographer, I can vouch for the amount of hours David is putting into each issue).

Thank you all as well for your contributions, please keep them coming in, there is so much heritage and archaeology out there, that David should be swamped and spoiled for choice and I am sure that you all, as photographers would love to see your images in print.

We still have our social media competition, and a trickle of entries come in each month, but we would love to see more of those.

What are you all up to? I know most of you don’t go too far without a camera, we would love to see more of your work, heritage is everywhere!

I recently suffered what I can only suggest was a moment of madness, and launched an archaeology and photography for well-being project for which we are just about to begin test pits, as part of a feasibility study. If viable, the project will be rolled out to the wider community. There will be images aplenty to share with you all, so don’t let me be the only one, share your work too.

We are aware of changes going on at RPS HQ, most of these will be out of our control as a special interest group, but we will endeavour to keep you all up to date as much as possible.

Best wishes,

Heather,

Heritage Chair <heritagechair@rps.org>

Walking along the Quayside in Newcastle, some of the old building signage are fascinating, the detail, the juxtaposition with the modern usage and even the modern buildings behind. They just don’t make them like this any more

January: Heritage in Decay

February: Heritage Science

Historic and antique scientific glassware from the Wellcome Collection,Euston Road, London. Photograph: Edmund White

Fishing boat on Inish Boffin Island off the coast of Donegal, Eire. Photograph David Bryson FRPS

March:Risque Heritage

Detail of penises on a Roman pot frrom Cambridge Archaeology and Anthropology Museum Photograph: David Bryson FRPS

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/roman-soldiers-drank-out-of-this-penis-pot-for-kicks_n_570bd937e4b0836057a1c6bc

This Maori image is a figurehead or Tauihu that was carved on the prow of a canoe. In particular, it is a form of Maori ‘tiki’ or ‘tekoteko’, which is Polynesian and Maori for a wooden or stone carving of a human form. The Maori ‘Hei Tiki’ refers and symbolises fertility and in particular pays homage to ancestors. The fertility symbols are often quite explicit and frequently feature very well-endowed male figures with prominent erections !

Photograph Shaun Parkes LDPS

Paperweights

When visiting a friend in Northern Ireland she asked me to photograph her late father’s Paperweight collection and I couldn’t resist also taking some close-ups to show details. I am not an expert to know the precise makers but there are a range of styles in the collection of photographs that follow.

DAVID BRYSON FRPS

Collection of paperweights

Glass paperweights date back to the time paper was first invented. A paperweight is a small object that is heavy enough to keep papers from blowing away. Given that paper was invented around 100 BC in China by the Han Dynasty, the paperweight was sure to follow shortly after. It is thought that the paperweights were a common tool in scholar’s studios and then and were made of white jade.

In 1495, a historian from Venice remarked,

“But consider to whom did it occur to include in a little ball all the sorts of flowers which clothe the meadow in Spring.”

He was referring to the glasswork techniques the

Romans had picked up from the Egyptians.

The earliest paperweights appeared in Europe in the mid-1840s. Venetian glassmaker Pietro Bigaglia created and exhibited the first signed and dated weights at the Vienna Industrial Exposition in 1845. He, like other paperweight makers of the time, revived many ancient glassworking techniques to create his weights.

In 1851, Prince Albert of England sponsored the Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, housed at the Crystal Palace in London, to showcase international artistic innovations, some of which were paperweights. The Vienna Industrial Exposition, The Great Exhibition and subsequent world fairs played a significant role in introducing paperweights to the world.

Close-up of the date 1847 made up of tiny canes

A Millefiori paperweight

A Macedoine paperweight

Production peaked in Europe about 1851, and then sharply declined from 1855 to 1860. During the 15 years of the Classic Period (1845-60), it is estimated that about 50,000-100,000 fine paperweights were made.

It was just three years before the February revolution and the creation of Napoleon’s Second Republic. The time was right. With affordable paper and dependable mail services, letter writing had become a newly popular pastime, and something had to keep those sheets in order.

Glasshouses like Baccarat, Saint-Louis, Clichy, and Pantin revived ancient techniques such as flame working, filigree, and millefiori, wrought from brightly coloured glass canes. The term millefiori comes from the Italian, mille (thousand) and fiori (flowers). It is a glasswork technique that produces decorative patterns. They also perfected plant and animal motifs. These paperweights were useful, fashionable, relatively inexpensive, and a cheery way to keep flowers on desks even in winter, and their manufacture spread through parts of Europe. Some weights have tiny canes included that help identify the maker and/or date.

This method involves the creation of glass canes or rods that are later on heated in a furnace and pulled thin. The record price for a millefiori paperweight was a quarter-million dollars sold in 1990. The piece was produced in the mid-1800s by

the French Clichy factory.

Millefiori paperweights contain thin cross-sections of cylindrical composite canes made from coloured rods and usually resemble little flowers, although they can be designed after anything, even letters and dates. These are usually made in a factory setting. They exist in many variations such as scattered, patterned, close concentric or carpet ground. Sometimes the canes are formed into a sort of upright tuft shaped like a mushroom that is encased in the dome. The year of manufacture is sometimes enclosed in one of the canes.

Swirl paperweights have opaque rods of two or three colours radiating like a pinwheel from a central millefiori floret. A similar style, the marbrie, is a paperweight that has several bands of color close to the surface that descend from the apex in a looping pattern to the bottom of the weight. Crown paperweights have twisted ribbons, alternately colored and white filigree which radiate from a central millefiori floret at the top, down to converge again at the base. This was first devised in the Saint Louis factory and remains popular today.

Other popular types of weights include: carpetground weights, which are composed of closely-set canes that are identical in type and colour; macedoine weights, a type of weight consisting of a scrambled, twisted mixture of canes or cane fragments and latticinio; colour-ground

Different shapes of paperweights.

Close-up view of a Macedoine paperweight

Close-up of paperweight with large cane flowers. weights.

These are made by using a transparent or opaque coloured glass as the background for a weight; and crown weights, which are hollow weights that usually alternate swirling white and coloured filigree canes radiating from a central millefiori cane.

The photographs were all taken with available light and have been processed using ON1 Photo RAW 2024 which includes Brilliance AI for tone adjustment.

References

Corning (2011) _The evolution of the paperweight_, _Corning Museum of Glass_. Available at: https:// www.cmog.org/article/evolution-paperweight (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Paperweight_ (2023) _Wikipedia_. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperweight (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Tattoli, C. (2017) _The surprising history (and future) of paperweights_, _The Paris Review_. Available at: https://www.theparisreview.org/ blog/2017/09/20/the-surprising-history-ofpaperweights/#:~:text=Three%20and%20a%20 half%20centuries,industry%E2%80%94ran%20 with%20the%20idea. (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Laser Crystal (2021) _Where did paperweights come from: Glass Paperweights_, _Laser Crystal_. Available at: https://lasercrystal.co.uk/corporateawards-news/where-did-paperweights-come-from/

(Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Elder, A. (2024) _About paperweights_, _The Glass Paperweight Foundation_. Available at: https:// www.glasspaperweightfoundation.com/all_about_ paperweights (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Queenth, C. (2019) _Collecting guide: Glass paperweights_, _Christie’s_. Available at: https://www.christies.com/ en/stories/paperweights-collecting-guidece9dda302a324fbf8228534f6faafaee (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Chris Tilney’s Bricks

Bricks, if you were to ask a construction engineer, or an architect what the uses for bricks are, they would most likely say that bricks serve diverse purposes in construction, providing stability and durability to structures.

HEATHER LAURENCE PHD

A Lumley Castle Brick from Chris Tilney’s Collection

Bricks, commonly used in walls, they offer thermal insulation, soundproofing, and fire resistance. In landscaping, bricks create paths, patios, and retaining walls, enhancing outdoor spaces. Architecturally, they contribute to aesthetic design through facades, arches, and intricate patterns. Bricks also play a vital role in infrastructure, forming the foundation for bridges and tunnels. Additionally, they are employed in DIY projects, such as building barbecues or garden borders. Beyond construction, bricks find innovative applications in art installations and sustainable building practices, reflecting their adaptability and enduring utility.

However, to local man Chris Tilney, they are a passion, collectable pieces of history that are a testament to our heritage as much as any historical document or photograph.

His collection of bricks is magnificent to see, with over 2000 of them stored lovingly at his home. But more than that, Chris and his son installed a monumental wall at Path Head Watermill in Blaydon in 2022, this structure is fascinating, to some it may be just a wall, but when you look closely, it is easy to see that each brick is marked by a makers mark, each one telling a story of where it came from, some with plain markings, simply stating a name, others with what can only be described as art on each one, from fish to castles, this old style branding was a forerunner for the type of promotions that we recognise today, we live in an age where branding is so recognisable, we no longer need to read what the business is called before we go inside, for example, the McDonald’s “M” is globally recognized, more locally, we all know the Co-Op signs or the Facebook ‘F’.

Monumental wall at Path Head Watermill

https://pathheadwatermill.org/

For the “Love” of bricks.

Chris, who began his collection during lockdown, is quite an expert when it comes to bricks, and can say where each brick in his monument wall came from, and even offers a brief history of the company that made them.

It may seem that this is an unusual hobby, yet, when Chris explained that he holds a ‘brick swap’ day a couple of times a year, that is well attended by fellow collectors, it is obvious that there is indeed more to bricks than simple materials used to build with.

Chris is hoping to have his remaining collection housed by a local heritage site in the future and to continue to remind people of this huge part of our national heritage.

https://www.facebook.com/ groups/449787505191690

A selection of bricks

Dedication brick from the Monumental Wall

Close-up of loose brick on top of the monumental wall from Heddon Colliery and Brickworks http://heddonhistory.weebly. com/blog/heddon-colliery-brick-works

Close-up view of the monumental wall.

A place to visit - Hellifield Station

Tucked away in a secluded part of North Yorkshire, you will find Hellifield Station. As part of the famous Settle to Carlisle line, the village it serves predates the Domesday Book, in which it is referred to as “Helgeflet” meaning Holy Marsh or Stream. I often find myself there photographing steam trains, which usually stop for water, or to change locomotive.

NATALIE HOUGH LRPS

Traditionally a farming village, in 1849 the first railway company arrived at Hellifield and built a small station for a single track. The first station was constructed of timber and plaster, in a mock Tudor style, and this has been improved and changed over the years. There are still signs of this change that can be seen today, such as detailed moulds for casting iron for the roof support pillars displayed on the platform.

In 1852 the track was doubled to two lines, and then in 1880 further expansion saw Hellifield North Junction signal box, a turntable, a large water tank and an engine shed all opened. A small goods yard, and a small amount of storage for unused carriages still remain. The shed finally closed in 1963, and was used to house locomotives which were intended to be preserved for the national collection. Luckily, these locomotives were found homes and the sheds were demolished in 1972.

The station’s architecture has been Listed Grade II since 1997, and the main buildings and canopy with ornate cast iron detailing are still present. These underwent a major refurbishment by National Rail

in 2013. There is a good selection of heritage trains throughout the year, as well as daily mainline movements running on the Settle and Carlisle and

Close up of Column (2024) 18mm / ISO 200 / f5.6 / 1/250th

Hellifield Junction

Under the canopy (2024) 55mm / ISO 400 / f4.5 / 1/500th

60103 Flying Scotsman (2023) The Railway Touring Company Christmas Special

Carriage at Hellifield (2023) 26.5mm / ISO 640 / f8 / 1/1000th

Bentham lines. Hellifield South Junction signal box is still in use, and the whole station is within the Settle Carlisle Railway Conservation area (SCRCA).

Today all the station buildings are privately owned, and permission is required to wander round but is usually granted unless movements are being carried out in the yard. The former ticket office is now Shed 24, the café on the station, and is well regarded locally for its Fireman’s Breakfasts, refreshments and cakes. It has good disabled access, toilets and parking, and the station has recently opened a book room containing its own archive and memorabilia, accessible to the public. There are even holiday lets available along the platform.

Wandering around the station, I often find myself not only shooting trains, but also taking close up detail shots, architecture, and even candid photographs. Being on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the surrounding landscape is stunning, including distant views across to Pendle Hill in Lancashire, famous for the witch trials of 1612. Weather can be variable due to the Dales and wind direction, and it is not unusual to experience four seasons in a day, but around the station and within a short walk, there is always something to photograph.

https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/stations/ hellifield/

The Cumbrian Mountain Express – 34067 Tangmere (2024) Watering at Hellifield Station

Hellifield South Junction Signal Box (2024) 55mm / iso 320 / f8 / 1/250th

Pendle Hill and Class 37 “Loch Laidon” 21mm / ISO 400 / f4 / 1/2000th

40 years from their best (2023) 55mm / ISO 200/ f8 /1/250th

Photographing graffiti in Derby Gaol, Friar Gate

At the behest and with the support of a colleague Jon Wright we took a series of photographs to show the range of graffiti in the old Derby Gaol. The images were susequently used by several students in their Independet Studies projects to look at criminological; aspects of the jails inhabitants over the years. This piece looks at the photographic protocol used and post-processing along with examples of the graffiti.

DAVID BRYSON FRPS

All of the doors were photographed as whole doors using available light from down-lighters above the doors and general lighting this was achieved using a tripod due to longer exposures required. This was followed by general views and close-up photography of sections of the doors and individual graffiti.

The Nikon camera was set to Auto white balance for photographing the doors and 5,000°K to match the Crime-Lite 82L light source for photographing the graffiti. The images were recorded at maximum size as Nikon RAW files sRGB IEC1966-2.1 Colour space, .NEF, 4,000 x 6,000 pixels @300ppi. The 70mm lens gave working distances between 0.6 and 2metres. Photographic settings are in the Table.

Due to the positioning and lighting several sections were photographed using multiple images which could then be combined in post-production using panoramic stitching software. The camera was handheld for general views and close-ups for speed of recording with Jon Wright holding and adjusting the light source as the graffiti was photographed.

Photographic settings for camera and lenses

Lighting

Lighting for general and close-up views if graffiti was provided by a Foster + Freeman Crimelite 82L with two batteries, one on charge and one in continual use. Lighting was set to daylight 5000°K.

Post-production

Files were imported into ON1 Photo RAW software as part of a raw workflow. The images were renumbered in sequence from db_2019_1229 through to db_2019_1407 and simple keywords were added to the metadata at import “cells, derby, Derby, doors, gaol, graffiti, prison”.

Images recorded as a sequence were combined and stitched as panoramas before adjustment. Images were individually adjusted for exposure, contrast, highlights, midtones, shadows, whites and blacks. Most adjustments were minimising the highlights and whites followed by adjusting midtones this allowed for the high contrast light source and its directional lighting.

One of the complete doors in Derby Gaol.

1 Files were adjusted and then exported to tiff files and imported into slide deck (https://slidedeck. com) photographic library https://photolibrary. cladonia.co.uk/-/galleries/graffiti. 5 files were exported as jpgs first as they were too large for the library system at that time.

foster+freeman

Crimelite 82 L used for the photography pdf brochure. A unique light source providing low-angle surface illumination for the detection of shoe prints, fibres and other traces of evidence

Crimelite held above the graffiti to highlight the text and drawings cut into the wood.

Derby Gaol has two main rooms for prisoners one for debtors with a window to the outside world and one without a window for the condemned criminials.

The gaol was for a time used as a night club but is now open as a museum and also used as part of ghost walks around derby https://richardfelix.co.uk/derbygaol/

Between 1730 and 1832 there were in excess of 260 crimes which carried the death penalty. This was known as the “Bloody Code” and offences ranged from being seen in the street with a sooty face,

stealing anything valued in excess of 4s 6d (twenty two and a half pence), damaging fishponds, writing a threatening letter etc; right through to Murder, Treason, Piracy and Arson in His Majesty’s Ship’s Dockyard.

Needless to say, everyday life for most people was hard and unrelenting. Employment was difficult to obtain and the pay very meagre. Therefore, to subsidise their existence, resorting to theft was the last, desperate option open to many to provide food for themselves and their families. Of course there

Richard Booth (40) and John Parker were hanged on Friday, the 6th of April 1804 for the theft of 2 black horses. They left this graffiti one being shorter than the other

were hard and fast villains who resorted to crime as a way of making a living and murder was an all too common occurrence.

The law was enforced rigidly and, when deemed necessary, the Justices would be seen to make “an example” of certain individuals as was the case with the men from Pentrich, Jeremiah Brandreth, Isaac Ludlam and William Turner. Accused of High Treason, these men were sentenced to be Hanged, Drawn and Quartered. It was not, however, the last time the awful sentence was handed down. That was in 1820 in London when the Cato Street Conspirators, Arthur Thistlewood (who knew Brandreth), John Thomas Brunt, Richard Tidd, James Ings and William Davidson were accused of High Treason.

Similarly, the Prince Regent granted clemency and commuted the sentence to Hanging and Beheading only. The difference being the Pentrich men were decapitated with an axe (the last time it was ever used) whilst a knife was used, by a surgeon, on the

Cato Street men. The identity of the executioner of the Pentrich men remains a mystery and the only details were that he was a “strong, muscular collier from Derby”.

For the “run-of-the-mill” capitally convicted criminals, hanging was seen to be sufficient, however, in 1752 the “Horrid Act of Murder” was approved where those convicted of murder were not only hanged but had an additional ‘punishment’ inflicted. After hanging, “the body shall be given over to the surgeons for dissection and a body shall not be suffered to be buried until it has been dissected or anatomised.”

This was particularly gruesome in that the crowd consisting of men women and children, who had just witnessed the execution were entitled to follow the cart carrying the remains of the victim back to the Shire Hall (built 1659) in St. Mary’s Gate. There they could actually watch the body being taken asunder by the surgeons!

Graffiti a cross between a mermaid and an anchor, sailors were occassional held in the gaol.

After this had taken place, the mutilated body then had to be exposed to full public view on the steps outside of the Hall for two full days in order that those who were unable to attend the execution and dissection could satisfy their morbid curiosity. This punishment was decided on in an effort to dissuade would-be murderers from carrying out their deeds. The belief at the time was that after death, one had only to wait for the Day of Judgement when all souls would be resurrected for life everlasting. The fear was that if a body had been dismembered, there would be no resurrection as the body parts had been dispersed far and wide and people had visions of odd limbs, heads and torso’s wandering aimlessly for all time in search of the rest of the body! The punishment was handed down to several victims, both male and female, in Derby Gaol.

Example of a date in the graffiti 1791

My favourite graffiti, Is it a xmas tree or as others have suggested a pot plant?