NEWSLETTER 76 LATE SPRING 2009 EDITORIAL Welcome to another Newsletter. The 2008-09 Lecture Programme has come to an end and I hope that members who have attended the lectures have found the programme interesting and varied. Many thanks go to Jane Ellis for arranging the programme; having done this myself for a number of years I am well aware of how difficult it can be at times in not only identifying speakers but matching them to the available dates at Claremont. Ideas for possible speakers are always welcome and Jane’s contact details are given at the end of the Newsletter. Whilst on the subject of contact details, apologies to any members who have tried unsuccessfully to contact me by email since the last Newsletter; just after it was published my email provider withdrew the service. I now have a new email address which is [email protected]. 14 members attended the Section AGM on 4th April and as usual the minutes of the meeting will be circulated with the Autumn Newsletter. At the AGM, I present the Section’s Annual Report and since the AGM is not as well attended as other meetings, I thought it would be of interest to members if I circulated a copy with this Newsletter. You will see that membership is slightly down, so again a reminder that the membership leaflet is available to download from the YAHS website or copies are available from me. Please do what you can to spread the news about the Section. I can report that the officers of the Section were re- elected apart from Bill Slatcher, who reluctantly felt that he should step down from the role of Vice Chairman. A vote of thanks was given to Bill who has played an active part in the Section for many years. Bill will still be attending meetings when he can continue to amaze us with his wealth of knowledge of industrial history. A question was asked at the meeting regarding the costs of running the section and unfortunately I did not have the figures to hand, but will include this detail in the Report in future. For the record, the cost of copying and posting three Newsletters, AGM Minutes and Lecture Programme is about £150. Jane’s costs for producing the Lecture Programme were £157.65 but I agreed she could retain the £21.20 collected from non member donations to offset her expenses. The annual subscription to the AIA costs £36 and until recently we contributed £30 towards David Cant’s travel costs as co-convenor of the CBA North East Industrial Archaeology Panel, before David stepped down from this role. One of the points noted at the AGM was the uncertainty regarding the future of the North East IA Panel which hadn’t met since early in 2008. Following the AGM and lunch, 11 members met Robert Vickers in City Square for a walking tour around Hunslet. There was so much to see and comment on that we ran out of time before Robert’s planned ending, so there is scope for a follow up walk next year to see the sites that we had to miss. Thanks to Robert for his work in planning and leading the walk; I saw things I hadn’t seen before and a fuller report can be found later in the Newsletter. Don’t forget Robert’s walk in Huddersfield on Sunday 10 May. Later in the Newsletter I have included details of this year’s AIA conference to be held in Lincoln. Section member Christine Ball is currently the AIA Affiliated Societies Officer and has commented that due to lack of support both the April Affiliated Societies weekend in Ironbridge and the pre conference seminar had to be cancelled due to lack of support. It is not clear whether this is due to declining membership or general lack of interest in the proposed topics. I can recommend the AIA conferences as an excellent way to discover the IA of a region and hope to see some of you in Lincoln in September. Welcome to new members who have joined since the last Newsletter: Mr P Bennett, Mrs E Galilee and Mr N Nelson and look forward to meeting you at a future event. A reminder that items for the Autumn Newsletter should be sent to me by the end of August and I hope you all have an enjoyable summer. Margaret Tylee NEWS ITEMS I have discovered a new feature on the English Heritage website calledPastScape. The site allows you to search by location using information from the National Monuments Record and provides access to basic site details, investigation history and sources. In many examples there are also links to images from the Images of England project and ViewFinder. PastScape also offer weblinks to historic and modern maps and aerial photographs. The website address can be found at www.english-heritage.org.uk The British Library has an extensive digitisation programme and a very valuable source is now available to researchers in Higher or Further Education establishments, public libraries and the Library’s Reading Rooms in London and Boston Spa. This is the 19th century newspapers archive. The programme involved the digitisation of over 2 million pages from 49 19th century newspapers, including the Leeds Mercury, the Northern Star & Leeds General Advertiser and the Hull Packet & East Riding Times. The site allows subject searching and enables fast access to information which previously would have taken many hours of scrolling through microfilm readers. At present it is only available via the establishments listed above but from early May a new interface will be launched aimed at the general public and those researchers who wish to view digitised material from their homes. Anyone will be able to search the content for free but a charge will be made for downloading material by purchasing a 24 hour or 7 day pass. Further details from the British Library website at www.bl.uk. Barnsley Museums Service has been successful in gaining £2.6m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to create Experience Barnsley a museum to tell the history of the town and its people. The new museum will be situated in the 1933 grade II listed Town Hall together with archives, a local history library, exhibition areas, a learning resource centre and art gallery.. The collections will include artefacts telling the history of the town’s mining, linen, printing and glass making industries. The National Union of Mineworkers is also creating its own archive collection to complement the museum which will include the NUM’s records and details of mining disasters. People are being asked to bring forward their own artefacts, photographs and stories and a series of special events to publicise Experience Barnsley will be held in the summer. Section members Alan and Janet Tomlinson have kindly sent me an offprint of an article they have recently published on the Ferrybridge Pottery 1830 – 1851. The pottery commenced production in 1795 and continued until 2003 when the buildings were demolished and the site cleared. However several marked shards were recovered which threw fresh light on the products of the pottery. The article describes the finds in detail and links them to the various stages of ownership between 1830 and 1851.The article can be found in the Northern Ceramic Society Journal Vol. 25, 2008-09 pp76-92. Please note that I am always happy to receive information about research that members are carrying out whether it has been published or not. Duchess of Hamilton: Streamlined - Styling an Era is a new exhibition at the National Railway Museum which explores the links between 1930s fashion, engineering and design. It will feature locomotive 6229 Duchess of Hamilton built in 1938 and worked until 1963 which has been restored to its original streamlined style. The exhibition runs from 20 May 2009 to 31 December 2010. INFORMATION WANTED We have been contacted by a representative of William Rowland Ltd, Meadow Street, Sheffield, who is trying to trace information relating to the Midland and Low Moor Iron works which he understood used to be situated at the corner of Meadow Street and Edward Street in Sheffield and was possibly once owned by Thomas Ward of Sheffield. My Godfrey map of the area does not show an iron works in this location so it must have been quite early. We have put him in touch with the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society and Kelham Island Museum, but if any members have any information please contact Mark Brocket email [email protected] or T 0114 2526483. FORTHCOMING EVENTS 10 May Discovering Huddersfield. An Industrial History Section walk led by Robert Vickers. Meet 11am at Huddersfield Railway Station. Pub lunch and finish around 4pm. More details from Robert Vickers T01937 588446. 14 May Waterfront Wakefield. National Mills Conference to be held at the Navigation Warehouse, Wakefield. 10am - 4pm. A morning of presentations on the regeneration of Wakefield’s waterfront followed by a walking tour of the area in the afternoon. Cost £60 including lunch and refreshments. Details from the National Mills Conference, The Gatehouse Business Centre, Mansion Gate, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, LS7 4RF or visit website www.ngcs.net 16 May EMIAC 77 A conference on the theme of Longdendale and its water supply scheme. Organised by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society and the Manchester Region IA Society. Held at the Glossopdale Community College, Hadfield. For details send SAE to Alistair Gilchrist, Sunnyside Mill Lane, Micleover, Derby, DE3 9FQ or email [email protected] 16 May Halifax St Paul’s to Thornton.