STEEPLEJACK'S CORNER 2012

[David Whipp]

A snap of Crownest Mill chimney being de-laddered today.

[Stanley]

I didn't know it had been laddered. Trying to work out what method they used. Looks like a cross between Yorkshire and Lancashire laddering.... Anyone know who did it?

[David Whipp]

A slightly wider view.

[Stanley]

Interesting. I have never seen socketed ladders lashed like that before.

[Stanley]

I wonder where young Jason is nowadays? He was apprentice to Peter when we rebuilt the head on the stack at Ellenroad. I liked him, a smart lad and I'm sure he's doing well somewhere!

[Steeplejerk]

The ladders are just normal 16'6 lancashire ladders,lashed to the bands where they could ,hence the tin of red gloss to touch up on the way down,think it says 'best' on the back of the overalls,. Jason Yeomans,I often wonder what hes upto these days..

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Tom, how are you these days.....? It would be good to see you. I liked Jason, he was a bright cheerful young lad and had a brain. I always remember having to explain the Foucault effect on the 200 feet long downfall in the flue when we set the hoist up. He couldn't understand why it always started swinging again if it was centred.....

[Stanley]

Young Tom and Peter on the head of Ellenroad stack in 1986. Peter had bought a new 500ft coil of 1" manilla roped for the hoist and so the hook and weight had to be heavy enough to drag the opposing 200 feet of rope up the chimney. He used a sledge hammer head and an old cast iron finial from a church spire. When this weight was at the bottom and at rest it made a good Foucault pendulum. See THIS for an explanation of how the Foucault Effect works.

[plaques]

I first saw my first example of the Foucault Pendulum at the Science Museum in London in 1956. At first I thought it was a simple case of precession as with a gyroscope so I tried to build a gyroscope into the pendulum. A complete failure I might add. The maths is a bit like those of a sundial, more complicated than you first think. I'm not sure why things should start 'swinging' again' unless the rope had started to unwind giving some spin to the bucket. Over to you Tizer.

[Stanley]

It's the eccentricity of the earth P. We can't feel it but the spin wobbles a bit. Then there is the fact that even in a light wind, a high stack moves slightly. I can assure you that ten minutes after being stabilised it was swinging form side to side of the flue. That's why Jason thought the stack was haunted.....
The first time I was on a stack in a stiff breeze I was surprised by how much it moved, you could definitely feel it and Peter said you had to be aware because it could cause you to miss your grip. You soon got used to it, a bit like getting your sea legs....

[David Whipp]

Crownest Mill, with Cornmill behind in frost this morning.

[Stanley]

They are looking after that stack well......

[Stanley]

I did this pic of the stack at Oakmount Mill Burnley in about 1980 when it was still running. Over the years the stack had been oiled regularly and the oil, combined with the soot in the air had turned jet black. I noted when I was there recently that on the weather side it has completely washed off.

[Stanley]

Happy Xmas to you all.....

[Stanley]

[deebee]

If you haven't already seen this BBC video it's worth watching. Try it in full screen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30546762


db

[Stanley]

Great video! Love the hand holds leaded into the masonry, I wonder how old they are? (And what they are made of!)

[Stanley]

A page out of the folder I kept business cards in.....

[Stanley]

I still bless the day that Peter put me on to Brooke Edgeley when he retired. They gave me good service and I found them quite a lot of work. I still remember Teddy Brooke coming to Ellenroad to see the complete refurb and telling me I was mad but he liked it! He said it would be the last one they did but years Later I rang them up and gave them the same job at Masson..... Happy days.....



Keith Batley sizing Masson up in 1992. Where is he now, I've lost him!

[Stanley]

Masson chimney with Brooke Edgeley doing a complete refurbishment. The mill belongs to my mate Robert and he has transformed it from a redundant mill to a modern shopping centre and the Arkwright Museum in the original building. The chimney and boiler house were a later addition, originally the mill was driven from the River Derwent. The Xmas after the refurb, Keith Batley came down and dressed up as Father Christmas and miraculously appeared at the top of the chimney to the delight of hundreds of kids!

[Stanley]

BEST at work on a heavily banded stack at Sowerby Bridge in 2001. Some of the men who worked at Ellenroad were on the job so we had a reunion.....

[Stanley]

Ellenroad 1985.

[Stanley]

When I look at that image it reminds me of what we accomplished over that 8 years.... I'd hate to be given the job now. I would do it exactly the same way but we'd never get the funding and support.

[Stanley]

Olympic mill Rochdale. I can't remember the exact circumstances but there was a TV programme that involved close up shots of the head from a helicopter. There was something interesting about this but it has escaped me.

[Stanley]

Ross Mill on the night shift in 1976. It looked like an ocean liner sailing up the valley.... Long gone of course.