A walk along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal

It has been awhile since i walked along a new canal for the first time, the last one was probably the Shropshire Union Canal last year. On Saturday i walked the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal from it's city centre terminus out as far as (near) Hyde Park tram stop. You can see my photos here.

Sheffield steel

It has been a number of years since my previous visit to Sheffield, too long in fact. Yesterday, i rectified that at last and enjoyed plenty of journies on the city's superb tram network going as far as Rotherham on the tram train. This time i also visitied the cathedral which i had somehow forgot to properly visit about on my previous visit! I also had a walk along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal but that will be covered another time. You can see my Supertram related photos here and some other Sheffield photos, including the cathedral, here.

Cathedrals (9) : York Minster

York Minster is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe and the seat of the third most important office in the Church of England. A wooden church was first built on the site in 627CE to baptise Edwin the King of Northumbria. A stone church was completed a few years later but fell into decay within a few decades and was destroyed in a fire in 714. The church was rebuilt on a larger scale though suffered a number of times due to the turmoil of the late Saxon period.

The church was rebuilt in the Norman style in 1080. The church was rebuilt and modified in the Gothic style in the following century. Building continued until 1472. The church suffered during the Civil War, Reformation and from a number of fires including a serious fire in 1984 which destroyed the roof of the South transept.

The church has a cruciform plan with North and South transepts. The church has the widest Gothic nave in England and two towers at the West end of the church. The 15th century central tower was one of the last parts of the church to be built.

Castles (14) : York

York castle began as a motte and bailey castle built on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1068, one of many such castles built across the land to help William solidify his power. However the castle was destroyed the following year by the Vikings. The castle was rebuilt on a much greater scale and included a moat.

Henry III rebuilt the castle in stone in the mid thirteenth century. The current keep, also known as the Clifford Tower (shown below), dates from this construction. York castle became one of the most important centres of royal power in the North.

However by the time of Elizabeth I the castle has fallen into disrepair and was no longer considered an important military strongpoint. The castle was used as a prison and centre of administration. The prison continued to be used (though with some later rebuilding) until 1929. Part of the castle is still used as a crown court, it also includes a museum.

RNLB City of Sheffield

One of the exhibits at the excellent National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield is a retired Tyne class lifeboat which carries the city's name.

Lifeboat 1131 City of Sheffield was built in 1988 at Wright/Souter and served at Whitby, Ramsgate, Hartlepool, Relief and Poole lifeboat stations [1]. It served at Poole for the longest, saving over six hundred and fifty people in fifteen years service before being retired in 2016 [2].

[1] Nicholas Leach and Tony Denton, Lifeboat Directory (Ships in Focus, 2013) p. 105
[2] "RNLI City of Sheffield: Lifeboat which saved 650 people retired" <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-37940364>

Walking the Waterways (19) : Leeds & Liverpool

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal stretches across the Pennines (as the name suggests) linking the two great Northern cities. Work began on the canal in 1770 with the aim of linking Yorkshire industrial towns like Leeds and Bradford with a port in the West. The first part of the canal opened in 1773 but work continued for nearly fifty years until the full two hundred kilometre route was open. The canal ran from the centre of Leeds to Liverpool via places like Wigan, Shipley, Keighley and Burnley.

Coal was the most important cargo carried on the canal, from mines inland to Liverpool. Coal continued to be carried on the canal as late as 1972 with other cargoes continuing until the early 1980s. The canal is used for leisure these days of course. A new link to Liverpool's docks was opened in 2009 allowing boats to go as far as the Albert Dock in Liverpool.

Sheffield Pacer

A Class 142 departs Sheffield station.

National Emergency Services Museum

A highlight of my trip to Sheffield yesterday was to visit the National Emergency Services Museum, a former combined police and fire station now a museum packed with old police cars, ambulances, fire engines and the like... even a life boat! It really is my kind of museum, rammed full of exhibits. The museum is highly recommended, as it highlights some very important and sometimes overlooks aspects of society and covers some very interesting history. You can see my photos here.

Sheffield

I've been through the city a few times but today was the first time i've stopped off at Sheffield and explored it, and what a great place! A very impressive city, modern and regenerating with a great tram system too. I travelled on the tram a bit, also walking along the river Don and visited the National Emergency Services Museum (we'll look more into that in a later blog post).

You can see my railway and tram photos here. I'll definitely be coming back some day!

East Coast Main Line

A Class 91 propelled express pulls into York in its way down to London Kings Cross.

York (5) : Harrogate

The final selection of photos from my York holiday is from Harrogate which i visited on my final morning up North. I had some spare hours before returning home so decided to use it visiting one last place and it was well worth it as Harrogate is very nice. It topped off my holiday nicely, the icing on the cake if you will. You can see my photos here.

York (4) : York station

Continuing my review of my holiday in York, all three days i was at York station at various times. York is one of the iconic centres of the rail network like Crewe and Derby and certainly did not disappoint with many expresses and local trains. Highlights included the new Azuma train on test and plenty of Pacers. The end will be nigh for them in a few years so enjoy them while you can! You can see my photos here.

York (1) : NRM

So i spent a couple of days up in York earlier in the week. My main reason for the visit was to visit the National Railway Museum at its two sites: York and Shildon. NRM York was first, i have been to it before twice. Once when i was a school child and a couple of years ago when i was a bit bigger. Since my last visit my long-dormant interest in railways has exploded and so i was on a mission to gather as much material as possible for my websites...

I like the NRM a lot and they have received an interesting new exhibit recently in the shape of a Eurostar power car (i also saw some at Kingsbury on my train up to York - being scrapped!) The streamlined LMS locomotive was not there last time i visited and that was a fine site, my Dad would have loved to have seen that. My favourite loco there though is a little strange perhaps, being the little battery electric locomotive NSR 1, it was rather overlooked by most visitors in the Great Hall which is a shame but is a lovely example of Midland Railway engineering in its own way. You can see my photos at NRM York here.

Eurostar power car

Class 76 electric locomotive

Art Deco streamlined LMS locomotive

Battery electric shunter

LNWR EMU

Back from the North!

I've just returned from a very enjoyable short break in York. The holiday was heavily railway based of course and involved visits to both sites of the National Railway Museum at York and Shildon as well as visits to Darlington and Harrogate. I'm still processing and uploading all the photographs so will post about them separately when available.

I saw a lot of interesting stuff, one especially being one of the new Azuma trains which will enter service next year on the East Coast Main Line. It was on a test run through York and i took this video.

Churches (2) : St Martin-cum-Gregory, Micklegate

St Martin-cum-Gregory is a former parish church in Micklegate, York (a city of many churches of course). The church was first built in the 11th century dedicated to St Martin with further building in the 13th and 14th centuries. It merged with St Gregory's Church in 1585 which gave it its current name. Over the centuries it saw further additions and restorations especially in the 19th century.

However nowadays it is no longer used as a church by the Church of England and is currently a stained glass centre.