Fort George

Fort George, a little north east of Inverness, Scotland, is built on a promontory jutting in to the Moray Firth. It protects the approach to Inverness and was started in 1748 to control the Scottish Highlands following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. It replaced a previous Fort George within Inverness itself.

Building work took nearly 25 years to complete and, at a cost of £200,000, came in at more than double the budget (some things never change!). The external walls are extremely thick, covered with soil and turf and protect casement rooms designed to keep occupants safe in the event of attack although an actual attack has never taken place. Numerous gun emplacements cover the approaches and help protect the barracks buildings inside as does a drawbridge approach from land.

The fort was used for training for the D-Day landings in WWII and is still a military garrison being home to the Black Watch although closure is scheduled for 10 year's time. However, despite the military presence the fort is open to the general public with access to many areas some of which are set out as they would have been over a century ago and it is certainly worth a visit.

Kentish Belle

The better half alerted me to this steam hauled train passing through today and, fortunately, its timing meant that it came through just after I finished work so I was able to stop for a quick video.

End of the line?

The steam tug Cervia is currently part of the Ramsgate Maritime Museum collection. She was built in 1946 and is the last sea going steam tug in UK waters and the last to work commercially, being in operation until 1983.

However, despite restoration works a few years ago the tug is in poor shape below the waterline and resources are not available for the repairs required. Lottery bids have been drawn up but as the Council cannot match the funding bid nor give a long term commitment it is now likely that the tug will be broken down and parts sold off.

The only hope is that someone will be able to purchase the tug, apparently for a nominal sum, and offer it a new home. However, if this does not happen by mid September it seems the tug will die.

Little Malvern Toll House

No longer at Little Malvern this is one of the rescued buildings rebuilt at Avoncroft museum. It was originally built and owned by the Upton upon Severn Turnpike Trust. Turnpike Trusts were established by Act of Parliament and were responsible for upkeep of roads. To fund their work they were allowed to charge road tolls, which were collected at tollgates. Trusts usually subcontracted this to individuals who, in return for a yearly rent, were allowed to keep the tolls they collected. Travellers tended to hate the toll system as they saw little improvement in the quality of the roads and often had long waits at the gates. 

Quaint as the building looks today it was basically a one up one down affair with a scullery area and an outside loo in a wooden hut. Times have improved!

National Telephone Kiosk Museum

Sometimes you come across the unexpected at museums. Having stopped over at Redditch for the Midland Air Festival (see the In Reach Blog) we had some time to spare the next day before heading home so decided to call in at the nearby Avonscroft Museum which houses a collection of relocated buildings of historical importance that would likely have been lost to developers. Before we had really even started looking around we noticed a sign to a collection of telephone kiosks and went for a quick look. We ended up chatting with a former BT engineer who had previously worked at Brooklands museum and found that Avonscroft holds the National Collection of phone kiosks representing at least one of every box that has been in use since 1912, a number of roadside boxes and a working exchange which is connected to all of the individual phones so, yes, they all work.

If like me you are of a certain age you will remember many of these boxes so it was a little nostalgia trip as well as being interesting, as was the exchange which was demonstrated to us by the nice chap at the museum. Sparing no expense we were also given a souvenir post card of the Queen launching direct long distance calling back in 1958. At least that happened before I was born!

TS Royalist

I'm quite partial to old sailing ships. Having said that this is not actually very old at all. The original Royalist was built in 1971 to serve the Sea Cadets in a training role. It was decommissioned in 2014 and this was built as a replacement, entering service the following year. It is expected to remain in service for around 40 years.

It has been moored in Ramsgate Harbour for at least a couple of days.