MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

Stanley's got it. Rainall Rd. Perhaps the question should be why 'Rainall'.?

Tizer where are you?

[PanBiker]

Rainhall actually.

[Tizer]

Tizer where are you?

Here, but like the rest of you I don't find it easy to come up with good mystery objects - you're all too clever and knowledgeable!

[plaques]

Rainhall actually.

Never been any good at this spelling business, Asking where Northview Terrace was would have been too easy. But why Rainhall?

.

Rainhall Rd.JPG

[Tizer]

In response to great demand, and for your edification (as they used to say on the music hall stage), I present Tizer's latest Mystery Object brought to you direct from the depths of wildest Somerset. What is it and where is it located? The white rectangle was there in the original image that I scanned and I think it's probably an information notice about the object but the poor resolution has obliterated it.

[Marilyn]

Hanging bad folk, what steal the Apples?

[Stanley]

A guess. A Crane for mounting cannon on their carriages?
My 'Rainall' was a typo. As for why Rain Hall I think there was a medieval Hall down there at some time.

[Tizer]

It wasn't meant for hanging apple thieves, Maz, although I guess they could have done that. There were other ways of punishing people in those days!

Yes, it's a crane, Birthday Boy, and it may have been used for mounting cannon on their carriages as you describe although I haven't been able to find any reference to its exact use. There is more to this mystery object still to be revealed - it's more than just `a crane'. What else can you tell me about it and where is it located?

[Gloria]

The Harwich Treadwheel Crane?

[plaques]

Well I never knew that.

[Stanley]

Is Gloria right? I knew about cranes driven by treadmills.... Quite common as early as building the first cathedrals.

[Tizer]

The Harwich Treadwheel Crane is correct, Gloria. Were you already familiar with it or did you have to work it out from scratch? When Maz suggested it was to `hang bad people' I gave a small clue by stating `There were other ways of punishing people in those days!'. It was built in the 1600s and originally located at the naval dockyard in Harwich but in the last century was moved to a position a short way from the docks. It's notable as having twin wheels for greater balance - and no brake! There's plenty of information on the web...
Harwich Society
Historic England
Ancient Monuments
Engineering Timelines

[Gloria]

The Harwich Treadwheel Crane is correct, Gloria. Were you already familiar with it or did you have to work it out from scratch? When Maz suggested it was to `hang bad people' I gave a small clue by stating `There were other ways of punishing people in those days!'. It was built in the 1600s and originally located at the naval dockyard in Harwich but in the last century was moved to a position a short way from the docks. It's notable as having twin wheels for greater balance - and no brake! There's plenty of information on the web...
Harwich Society
Historic England
Ancient Monuments
Engineering Timelines

Never seen it, but heard something about it recently.

[Stanley]

What is it and where?

[Big Kev]

It's the workings of a clock, looks like an old one.

[Stanley]

Right lines.......

[Tizer]

I agree with Kev that it looks like clockwork of some kind but is the thing shown something I could know about or would I have to be a Barlicker to know where it lives?
Is it in the Elizabeth Tower?

[PanBiker]

Holy Trinity Church in Barlick?

[Big Kev]

Right lines.......

...that it's a clock or that it's old?

[Tizer]

I wonder if it's a contraption in Stanley's loft for hoisting him out of bed in the morning, like in the Wallace & Grommit `Wrong Trousers' film. It then slides him down a chute into his chair in the kitchen where Jack is cooking him breakfast.

[PanBiker]

St Josephs RC Church then?

[Big Kev]

It doesn't have a clock face

[chinatyke]

Does it ring a bell?

A chime mechanism?

[Stanley]

I think Kev has cracked it but he's being coy!
You are all on the right lines and it's famous world wide, you don't need to be a Barlicker.

[Cathy]

Is it the Tower of London clock workings?