Discussion Post: The Five Orange Pips
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sherlock60This week, the canon story we’re looking at is The Five Orange Pips and the chosen topic is The Thames Embankment.
A few facts:
◚ Built in stages between 1862 and 1874 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Thames Embankment transformed London’s riverscape by reclaiming marshy land next to the river and constructing wide carriage- and foot-ways and a high granite retaining wall, stretching over three miles in total. [Paul Dobraszczyk]
◚ The Embankment is divided into three parts. The first, extending from Westminster to Vauxhall Bridge, is named the Albert, and was opened in November, 1869; the Victoria, from Blackfriars to Westminster, was opened in July, 1870; and the Chelsea, from Chelsea to Battersea, in 1874. [Uncle Jonathan, Walks in and Around London, 1895 (3 ed.)]
◚ In 1854… the Government built the Chelsea Embankment between Millbank and the Royal Hospital Chelsea on the North Bank, which was undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works (1855-1889) under the direction of Thomas Brassey (1805-1870). [Dave Hill]
The embankment was completed in 1874 to a design by Joseph Bazalgette… [Wikipedia]
◚ ...the story [of the Victoria Embankment] really began in 1855 with the creation of the Metropolitan Board of Works to try to improve London’s sanitation and street systems. The board’s chance came when the dry summer of 1858 created what was known as the Great Stink… Joseph Bazalgette put forward a plan for a new sewer flowing from west to east into which all the existing sewers would empty, rather than into the river. The contents would then be taken well to the east of the City before being dealt with at new sewage works. Embankment walls were to be built close to the low-water mark and the area behind them infilled. This made space not only for the sewer but also for a road and for the new, partially underground, District Line as well. [Roger Hudson]
◚ The embankment also incorporates several stretches of gardens and open space, collectively known as the Embankment Gardens… The gardens include many statues, including a memorial with a bust of Bazalgette. [Wikipedia]
◚ In total, Bazalgette's scheme reclaimed 22 acres (89,000 m2) of land from the river. [Wikipedia]
◚ Much of the granite used in the projects was brought from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. [Wikipedia]
◚ When the Victoria Embankment was opened in 1868 it was celebrated in the press as directly comparable – even superior – to the engineering feats of ancient Rome and also as superior to similar developments in contemporary Paris… [Paul Dobraszczyk]
◚ The Victoria Embankment was the first roadway to be permanently lit by electricity in 1878. Lighting was provided by twenty Yablochkov Candles (a type of electric carbon arc lamp), which were powered by a Gramme AC Generator. Eventually, fifty lamps were set up, but the system proved too costly and lighting was returned to gas operation in 1884 until electricity became more competitive in price. [Dave Hill]
◚ Victoria Embankment, London, extends along the left bank from Westminster to Blackfriars, a distance of about a mile and a quarter… The whole of the space now occupied by the embankment was covered by water or mud, according to the state of the tide… The substitution of the beautiful curve of the Embankment, majestic in its simplicity, with its massive granite walls, flourishing trees, and trim gardens, is an unspeakable improvement on the squalid foreshore, and tumble-down wharves, and backs of dingy houses which formerly abutted on the river.
NEAREST Bridges, Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars (all carriage roads), Charing-cross (foot); Steamboat Piers, Westminster, Charing-cross, Waterloo, and Temple; Railway Stations, Westminster (Dist.), Charing-cross (Dist. and SE.), Temple (Dist.), Blackfriars (Dist. and L.C. & D.); Omnibus Routes, the Strand and Fleet-street. [Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames, 1881]
◚ There is an Egyptian obelisk on the Victoria Embankment. It is known as Cleopatra's Needle as it was brought to London from Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra. [Ellen Castelow]
◚ Made of red granite, the obelisk stands about 21 metres (69 ft) high, weighs about 224 tons and is inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs. [Wikipedia]
◚ It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan Muhammad Ali, in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. [Wikipedia]
◚ The obelisk remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London from Alexandria at a cost of some £10,000… [Wikipedia]
The Needle arrived in England after a horrendous journey by sea in 1878. [Ellen Castelow]
...the… needle was finally erected on the Victoria Embankment on 12 September 1878. [Wikipedia]
◚ A time capsule is buried beneath Cleopatra’s Needle. The capsule is said to contain the following: Photographs of 12 English Beauties of the day; A box of hairpins; A box of cigars; Several tobacco pipes; A baby's bottle; Some children's toys; A shilling razor; A hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in the erection; A 3 inch bronze model of the monument; A complete set of British coins; A rupee; A portrait of Queen Victoria; A written history of the strange tale of the transport of the monument; Plans on vellum; A translation of the inscriptions; Copies of the bible in several languages; A copy of Whitaker's Almanack; A Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London; Copies of 10 daily newspapers. [Paul Boughton]
◚ Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes, designed by the English architect George John Vulliamy. The sphinxes are cast in bronze and bear hieroglyphic inscriptions that say netjer nefer men-kheper-re di ankh, which translates as "the good god, Thuthmosis III given life". These sphinxes appear to be looking at the Needle rather than guarding it, due to the sphinxes' improper or backwards installation. [Wikipedia]
◚ Vulliamy created the ‘Dolphin’ (actually, sturgeon fish!) street lamps along the retaining river wall [of the Victoria Embankment] in 1870.
Several years later, he decided to look to Egypt for inspiration when it came to designing… benches… Pre-empting the arrival of Cleopatra’s Needle in 1878, Vulliamy opted for a design which would complement the ancient monument when it eventually arrived. Near the site of the Needle itself, the benches in the City of Westminster feature armrests of Sphinxes, before camel armrests appear in the City of London section of the Victoria Embankment. [LondonMetroGirl]
◚ Some parts of the Embankment were built in the twentieth century, having been reconstructed following wartime bomb damage or natural disasters such as the 1928 Thames flood. [Wikipedia]
Some useful resources:
Thames Embankment On Wikipedia.
Victorian London - Thames - Embankments Extracts from Victorian sources. On The Dictionary of Victorian London.
Taming the Thames By Roger Hudson, on HistoryToday.
The history behind the camel and sphinx benches on Victoria Embankment On the Memoirs Of A Metro Girl blog.
Representing the nation: the Thames Embankment lamps By Paul Dobraszczyk on Rag-picking History.
The Embankment By Dave Hill, on Stories of London.
Cleopatra's Needle By Ellen Castelow, on Historic UK.
Cleopatra's Needle On Wikipedia.
The 'time capsule' secret beneath Cleopatra's Needle On the Egyptology News Network.
Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle, and Thames steam ferries seen from from Hungerford Bridge A photograph (probably dated between 1902 and 1906) on The Victorian Web.
London improvements: Hungerford Pier on the Thames Embankment. Image from Illustrated London News, 1869. On The Victorian Web. Page contains links to other related images.
Thames Embankment and St. Paul's Colour-tinted postcard. Unknown photographer and publisher but postcard postmarked "JY 7 [19]04".
Sculpture on the Victoria Embankment On The website of Bob Speel.
Victoria Embankment Gardens On the City of Westminister website. Not much information but some nice photographs.
Victoria Embankment Gardens On Wikipedia.
The Victoria Embankment Chapter XL from Old and New London: Volume 3 by Walter Thornbury. Originally published by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878. On British History Online.
Thames Embankment On The Spectator Archive. 4th August 1860, page 16. The Committee of the Commons appointed to consider the Embank- ment of the Thames have issued their report, with the following resolu- tions...
Victorian Wages for Skilled and Unskilled Labor: The Example of Construction Workers on the Thames Embankment By Dale H. Porter, Professor of History and Humanities, Western Michican University, on The Victorian Web.
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
A few facts:
◚ Built in stages between 1862 and 1874 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Thames Embankment transformed London’s riverscape by reclaiming marshy land next to the river and constructing wide carriage- and foot-ways and a high granite retaining wall, stretching over three miles in total. [Paul Dobraszczyk]
◚ The Embankment is divided into three parts. The first, extending from Westminster to Vauxhall Bridge, is named the Albert, and was opened in November, 1869; the Victoria, from Blackfriars to Westminster, was opened in July, 1870; and the Chelsea, from Chelsea to Battersea, in 1874. [Uncle Jonathan, Walks in and Around London, 1895 (3 ed.)]
◚ In 1854… the Government built the Chelsea Embankment between Millbank and the Royal Hospital Chelsea on the North Bank, which was undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works (1855-1889) under the direction of Thomas Brassey (1805-1870). [Dave Hill]
The embankment was completed in 1874 to a design by Joseph Bazalgette… [Wikipedia]
◚ ...the story [of the Victoria Embankment] really began in 1855 with the creation of the Metropolitan Board of Works to try to improve London’s sanitation and street systems. The board’s chance came when the dry summer of 1858 created what was known as the Great Stink… Joseph Bazalgette put forward a plan for a new sewer flowing from west to east into which all the existing sewers would empty, rather than into the river. The contents would then be taken well to the east of the City before being dealt with at new sewage works. Embankment walls were to be built close to the low-water mark and the area behind them infilled. This made space not only for the sewer but also for a road and for the new, partially underground, District Line as well. [Roger Hudson]
◚ The embankment also incorporates several stretches of gardens and open space, collectively known as the Embankment Gardens… The gardens include many statues, including a memorial with a bust of Bazalgette. [Wikipedia]
◚ In total, Bazalgette's scheme reclaimed 22 acres (89,000 m2) of land from the river. [Wikipedia]
◚ Much of the granite used in the projects was brought from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. [Wikipedia]
◚ When the Victoria Embankment was opened in 1868 it was celebrated in the press as directly comparable – even superior – to the engineering feats of ancient Rome and also as superior to similar developments in contemporary Paris… [Paul Dobraszczyk]
◚ The Victoria Embankment was the first roadway to be permanently lit by electricity in 1878. Lighting was provided by twenty Yablochkov Candles (a type of electric carbon arc lamp), which were powered by a Gramme AC Generator. Eventually, fifty lamps were set up, but the system proved too costly and lighting was returned to gas operation in 1884 until electricity became more competitive in price. [Dave Hill]
◚ Victoria Embankment, London, extends along the left bank from Westminster to Blackfriars, a distance of about a mile and a quarter… The whole of the space now occupied by the embankment was covered by water or mud, according to the state of the tide… The substitution of the beautiful curve of the Embankment, majestic in its simplicity, with its massive granite walls, flourishing trees, and trim gardens, is an unspeakable improvement on the squalid foreshore, and tumble-down wharves, and backs of dingy houses which formerly abutted on the river.
NEAREST Bridges, Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars (all carriage roads), Charing-cross (foot); Steamboat Piers, Westminster, Charing-cross, Waterloo, and Temple; Railway Stations, Westminster (Dist.), Charing-cross (Dist. and SE.), Temple (Dist.), Blackfriars (Dist. and L.C. & D.); Omnibus Routes, the Strand and Fleet-street. [Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames, 1881]
◚ There is an Egyptian obelisk on the Victoria Embankment. It is known as Cleopatra's Needle as it was brought to London from Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra. [Ellen Castelow]
◚ Made of red granite, the obelisk stands about 21 metres (69 ft) high, weighs about 224 tons and is inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs. [Wikipedia]
◚ It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan Muhammad Ali, in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. [Wikipedia]
◚ The obelisk remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London from Alexandria at a cost of some £10,000… [Wikipedia]
The Needle arrived in England after a horrendous journey by sea in 1878. [Ellen Castelow]
...the… needle was finally erected on the Victoria Embankment on 12 September 1878. [Wikipedia]
◚ A time capsule is buried beneath Cleopatra’s Needle. The capsule is said to contain the following: Photographs of 12 English Beauties of the day; A box of hairpins; A box of cigars; Several tobacco pipes; A baby's bottle; Some children's toys; A shilling razor; A hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in the erection; A 3 inch bronze model of the monument; A complete set of British coins; A rupee; A portrait of Queen Victoria; A written history of the strange tale of the transport of the monument; Plans on vellum; A translation of the inscriptions; Copies of the bible in several languages; A copy of Whitaker's Almanack; A Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London; Copies of 10 daily newspapers. [Paul Boughton]
◚ Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes, designed by the English architect George John Vulliamy. The sphinxes are cast in bronze and bear hieroglyphic inscriptions that say netjer nefer men-kheper-re di ankh, which translates as "the good god, Thuthmosis III given life". These sphinxes appear to be looking at the Needle rather than guarding it, due to the sphinxes' improper or backwards installation. [Wikipedia]
◚ Vulliamy created the ‘Dolphin’ (actually, sturgeon fish!) street lamps along the retaining river wall [of the Victoria Embankment] in 1870.
Several years later, he decided to look to Egypt for inspiration when it came to designing… benches… Pre-empting the arrival of Cleopatra’s Needle in 1878, Vulliamy opted for a design which would complement the ancient monument when it eventually arrived. Near the site of the Needle itself, the benches in the City of Westminster feature armrests of Sphinxes, before camel armrests appear in the City of London section of the Victoria Embankment. [LondonMetroGirl]
◚ Some parts of the Embankment were built in the twentieth century, having been reconstructed following wartime bomb damage or natural disasters such as the 1928 Thames flood. [Wikipedia]
Some useful resources:
Thames Embankment On Wikipedia.
Victorian London - Thames - Embankments Extracts from Victorian sources. On The Dictionary of Victorian London.
Taming the Thames By Roger Hudson, on HistoryToday.
The history behind the camel and sphinx benches on Victoria Embankment On the Memoirs Of A Metro Girl blog.
Representing the nation: the Thames Embankment lamps By Paul Dobraszczyk on Rag-picking History.
The Embankment By Dave Hill, on Stories of London.
Cleopatra's Needle By Ellen Castelow, on Historic UK.
Cleopatra's Needle On Wikipedia.
The 'time capsule' secret beneath Cleopatra's Needle On the Egyptology News Network.
Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle, and Thames steam ferries seen from from Hungerford Bridge A photograph (probably dated between 1902 and 1906) on The Victorian Web.
London improvements: Hungerford Pier on the Thames Embankment. Image from Illustrated London News, 1869. On The Victorian Web. Page contains links to other related images.
Thames Embankment and St. Paul's Colour-tinted postcard. Unknown photographer and publisher but postcard postmarked "JY 7 [19]04".
Sculpture on the Victoria Embankment On The website of Bob Speel.
Victoria Embankment Gardens On the City of Westminister website. Not much information but some nice photographs.
Victoria Embankment Gardens On Wikipedia.
The Victoria Embankment Chapter XL from Old and New London: Volume 3 by Walter Thornbury. Originally published by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878. On British History Online.
Thames Embankment On The Spectator Archive. 4th August 1860, page 16. The Committee of the Commons appointed to consider the Embank- ment of the Thames have issued their report, with the following resolu- tions...
Victorian Wages for Skilled and Unskilled Labor: The Example of Construction Workers on the Thames Embankment By Dale H. Porter, Professor of History and Humanities, Western Michican University, on The Victorian Web.
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
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Accidentally relevant location
Date: 2016-11-06 05:01 pm (UTC)Here is the very quarry...today:-p
And, yes...that's a cannon in the foreground...
Re: Accidentally relevant location
Date: 2016-11-06 05:40 pm (UTC)Will there be drawings too, btw..?
RE: Re: Accidentally relevant location
Date: 2016-11-06 05:44 pm (UTC)Have brought art stuff with me...hope so.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-20 02:44 am (UTC)Yay, sturgeon! Sturgeon are the best!
...although trying to find out anything about sturgeon in the Thames suggest it's been a good long while since it had its own sturgeon population? And that they were becoming a thing of the past by the time those lamps were installed, boo. :-(
:: natural disasters such as the 1928 Thames flood ::
I was going to ask how the Embankment affected flooding. My general sense of that kind of construction project is that it tends to cut down on the frequent, small floods, but makes the big ones much worse.
(Sorry for coming through so late. Life has been happening, and I'm trying to get caught up on my reading again.)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-20 07:07 pm (UTC)I know there is severe flooding around the Thames on occasion. But there's an awful lot of Thames ^_^ Must admit I have no idea how the Embankment itself has affected flooding. (Not really an excuse but I'm from the North West of England.)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-21 12:17 am (UTC)Mm, a chunk of my ancestors were sturgeon fisherpeople way back, so I admit to being partial. But the sturgeon on the rivers hereabout are super-impressive (although less so than historically, now that the dams have limited their travel so severely), and I'm the kind of nerd who offers to take people to meet Herman the Sturgeon when they're visiting. And anyway, dolphins are jerks. :-P
...and all that stretch of Thames is tidal, too, which adds another level of complication to the question, not to mention all the stuff with the buried rivers (which is alluded to in the Devil's Acre link in your linkspam for TWIS). I'm still trying to figure out how the watershed in and around London works, and every time I pick up a new data point, I just have more questions. (I don't have any real reason for trying to figure this out, there's no urgency here. It's just interesting.)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-22 12:11 am (UTC)