National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Last August I told you about a project that staff from the Earth Sciences section at World Museum Liverpool were undertaking. They were trying to find out what sort of plants were growing in the Merseyside area about 240 million years ago. Wendy Simkiss from the team provides an update:

Modern and Triassic horsetail.

"A 240 million year trip back in time to a Triassic site on Wirral revealed plant fossils in some of the rock strata.  These were collected during last summer, transported to the museum, examined, drawn, and numbered.  What we found was that most of the remains were from horsetails and conifers.  They are being identified and photographed in more detail at the present time.

One of the mysteries facing us is why all the fragments are so small.  We are attempting to find this out using examples of modern plants related to the fossil ones and seeing what happens as they dry up and disintegrate.  The photograph shows one of these tiny plant fossils from the Wirral site."

The top image shows modern horsetail growing wild. The lower image shows fossilised horsetail. This piece of rock is just 5mm tall. Images by Alan Bowden.

Penny Craige in costume as Mary the maid

At first glance this looks like a scene from Doctor Who, with a Victorian maid being attacked by an evil alien robot. Don't worry, there's no need for sonic screwdrivers, this is just a photo that Mark Saunders from our AV department sent me of some of the work they're doing for the refurfbishment of Sudley House.

To be honest, I had no idea that the AV guys led such a glamorous life, hobnobbing with actors and film crews, as I thought they just dealt with the technical side of things. However, they were involved in every aspect of this project, from getting the scripts approved, to finding the right actors and getting them kitted out in the right period costumes, and of course the filming itself in local studios Toxteth TV. Actually, these costumes are on hire from the BBC, so maybe they have been in Doctor Who after all!

The filming is for a series of video clips that will be shown in Sudley House when it reopens on 26 May. The actors are playing two of the former inhabitants of the house, George Holt and his daughter Emma, as well as Mary, the fictional maid. Together they will introduce visitors to the house and give a glimpse of what life was really like there when it was still a family home.

You can see more photos of the filming at Toxteth TV in a Flickr slideshow.

The two sides of the commemorative medal

Our new curator of antiquities, Carolyn Routledge, has been rummaging round her new charges and come up with this rather timely little gem. It's a 1907 medal commemorating the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Liverpool (in case you didn't know we are celebrating the city's 800th birthday this year).

On the left (the obverse view) we can see King John bestowing the charter that made Liverpool a city, along with a liver bird crest. The reverse view on the right shows a sailing ship, the dates 1207 and 1907, and the words 'Deus nobis haec otia fecit'. This is the motto of the City of Liverpool and means 'God has provided us this rest' or ' this tranquility' or 'this leisure for us', depending on your translation. The quote originally comes from Virgil's Eclogue I (37BC) and was suggested for the coat of arms by James, 10th Earl of Derby. The things you learn.

This section shows St Johns Tower, the roof of Lime Street station just to the left, and the Royal Liverpool Hospital in the background.

A few more progress snaps from the Ben Johnson project are now on our Flickr page (the last five are the most recent), including both Goodison Park and Anfield stadia (those who know me will admire my restraint there).

Should point out that these images are optimised for web use, and that the originals show really, really fine detail. You definitely need to see the original or hi-res pics to appreciate it fully.

If you could hear ringing in your ears while walking round Liverpool city centre over the last hour then don't worry, you haven't got tinnitus. As Karen explained last week, bellringers across the city have been celebrating the reopening of St George's Hall with a symphony of bells.

Here are our 3 musicians on the balcony above World Museum Liverpool's entrance. Their scrap metal bells may not look like the traditionally shaped ones you'd see on a Christmas card, but trust me, they're very loud!

Happy St George's Day.

Update 24 April: there are now a few more pics from yesterday in a St George's Day bells slideshow on Flickr.

John Towne Danson. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

Storms and rough seas generate emotions from awe to fear for me, Stephen Guy, but it must have been terrible to experience the following catastrophe. The great Calcutta cyclone of 1864 killed 60,000 people and destroyed more than 160 vessels making it probably the biggest single disaster to hit British shipping. Insurance companies in Liverpool went bust when the demands came in from shipowners.

The effects of the cyclone were catastrophic not only to Calcutta, then the seat of British rule in India, but the shipping industry. Roaring winds tore out trees by their roots, ripped roofs off buildings and caused a tsunami tidal wave 30 ft high in the Hooghly River. Ships were sunk, smashed to smithereens and left stranded ashore. Most were sailing ships and Liverpool, as the centre of their operations, received a crippling blow. The Albion and Empire Marine Insurance Companies were among those effectively wiped out by the size of claims made on them as a result of the Calcutta disaster.

Merseyside Maritime Museum has a number of items in its collections relating to marine insurance and underwriting, vital components in the shipping world. One of the companies that did survive the crisis, going on to enjoy success, was Liverpool’s first incorporated insurance company, the Thames and Mersey. It grew out of the aspirations of John Towne Danson (shown), a leading Liverpool figure with seafaring connections. Danson thought that Liverpool’s marine insurance facilities did not match her growing stature as a port. He found backing in the town and he was made secretary of the Thames and Mersey, incorporated in 1863.

Marine insurance boomed at the time of the American Civil War when business was transferred from New York to Liverpool.

The Liverpool Underwriters Association (LUA) was formed as far back as 1802 to increase Liverpool’s role in shipping insurance. In the 18th century shipping insurance was met by prosperous merchants covering modest risks as a business sideline. Later they formed groups and employed brokers to draw up policies. Bigger risks were placed on the London insurance market. LUA was established by merchants, insurance brokers and underwriters to cover shipping intelligence and to influence government legislation.

Other items in the museum’s collections include paperwork relating to 50 cases of muskets shipped from Liverpool to Havana in Cuba in 1834.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

Following on from Sam's post about the reopening of St George's Hall next week, a symphony of bells will ring out across the city to mark the occasion, from 1.40 - 2.40pm on Monday afternoon. World Museum Liverpool is getting involved by playing host to three musicians who will be stationed on the balcony just above the main entrance on William Brown Street. They'll be playing beer-barrel sized 'bells', constructed from scrap metal and hanging from a small scaffold.  If you're in the vicinity keep an eye out for them.

Just been talking to Kyle who works in our new media unit and is currently working on an interactive for the forthcoming International Slavery Museum - it looks pretty good even at this stage. There are going to be a number of interactives on the gallery, and this one is based on documents in our collection (the Davenport collection actually). It will tell the tale of the Essex, a typical Liverpool slave ship, and follows the vessel as it sets sail from the port (that's a Liverpool dock in the image) to Africa and then on the the Americas.

A scene from the interactive showing the Essex in dock in Liverpool.

Must admit, I wouldn't have the patience or eye for detail to do Kyle's job. Just about five minutes worth of interactive is literally taking him weeks to create, as every aspect of the interactive needs to be built from scratch.  Just the ship in this image took about a week to complete - the surfaces of all the ropes, wood, sails etc needed to be individually built in 3D Studio Max (that's an industry-standard application used to create 3D models of the type you'd see in any video game). The harbour walls themselves were a lot easier as they are basic 'boxes' with relatively little detail.

Also, Kyle's job isn't just about the technical side of things. He needs to think about everything from the story boarding, scripting and voice overs, to building, editing and combining his creation. Then there's issues like creating the right atmosphere for the piece (cartoony wouldn't work for such a serious issue), making sure the interactive itself is engrossing, and all the while sticking to the facts by creating historically accurate ships, buildings, clothes etc.  Who knew it took so much?  I'll pop in again in a few weeks and see where he's up to with it.

More progress images are on our Flickr page.

It's generally assumed that you need to be pretty smart to work in a museum. To find out just how smart watch Eggheads on BBC 2 at 6pm this coming Friday (20th) when a team from the museums will be pitting their collective wits against the resident team.

Last week Woman's Hour featured an interview with Pamela Robertson, curator at Glasgow's Hunterian Art Gallery, about the Doves and Dreams exhibition which is currently drawing the crowds at the Walker Art Gallery (and which finishes this Sunday). If you missed it you can still 'listen again' via the website for a day or two more (sorry for the lack of notice).

Finally, refering back to the Lilies post a few months ago, we've had an enquiry about the churches that featured in the series. Sorry, we don't know which they are and suggest that the person who contacted us gets in touch with Liverpool Film Office (we did try to email you but it kept bouncing back).

Panorama of the Liverpool waterfront, 1952, by Stewart Bale Ltd

Next week St George's Hall in Liverpool will reopen to the public after a major refurbishment. The week-long celebrations will include special Son et Lumiere displays in the evenings, with 800 years of the city's history projected onto the side of the building.

I don't want to spoil the surprise too much, but one of the images used in the displays will be this panorama of the Liverpool waterfront from the Stewart Bale archive held at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

We are highlighting the fantastic photos from the Stewart Bale archive in a series of themed online exhibitions this year, starting with the current Waterfront, docks and shipping one. Look out for a new one each month throughout the summer.

Our very own sculpture conservation team laser cleaned the relief sculpture on St George's Hall and the cenotaph on the plateau outside. Find out how they use cutting edge techniques to conserve historic monuments on the conservation technologies web pages.

Commemorative bowls from our maritime collection. Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.

Commemorative bowls and plates are something which I, Stephen Guy, like to study as they record moments in time while serving a useful purpose. With billowing sails, ships set off across the seven seas to make contact with distant lands and cultures. These ships are depicted on beautiful Liverpool delftware bowls and other pottery at Merseyside Maritime Museum. They are from the great age of sail when anything and everything seemed possible as Britain’s sea power expanded.

'Success to the John' says one, showing a three-master with flags and a long pennant streaming in the wind. Cannons point menacingly across a blue-green sea. By contrast, 'Success to the Dolphin' shows a small single-masted cutter on a choppy sea.

Others are long-vanished vessels with evocative names such as Nancy (the right-hand bowl of the three shown), Blundell (the centre bowl), Fanny, William and Mary, St Peter, Felicity, Eagle, King George, Thomas and Hannah and Lucy.

These are among the exhibits of delftware (tin-glazed earthenware) and Liverpool porcelain. Often made to commemorate successful voyages, the ships are depicted in full rig, most are flying the red ensign and the prominent colour is blue. Liverpool became a major centre for the production of delftware during the 18th century. As many as a dozen factories were probably in production by the middle of the century.

Bowls were used for many purposes in the 18th century – for holding fruit, flowers, potpourri or punch, a popular drink of the time. The town’s famous Herculaneum pottery produced a variety of wares including creamware, porcelain and stoneware.

On display are several commemorative busts of the leading naval heroes of the day that would have adorned homes of the period.  Busts of the legendary Admiral Lord Nelson date from between 1800 and his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Two other admirals depicted are John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent (1735 – 1823) and Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan (1731 – 1804). Jervis joined the navy at just 13 and had victories in the French Revolutionary War before being created an admiral in 1795. He defeated the Spanish off Cape St Vincent in 1797. Duncan was also made an admiral in 1795. He was a man of great presence who inspired loyalty in his men and this contributed to his decisive defeat of the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.
 

Just seen this interesting article on the Stanford University School of Medicine site. An ophthalmologist there is interested in the relationship between art and eye disease - he's even written a couple of books on the subject. He's now gone one step further and recreated artworks as the artist would have seen them, suggesting that the work we see now isn't what the artist intended. He's concentrated on Degas and Monet because, as he explains, they had well documented conditions, and has put together a slide show of what he thinks they would have seen - it's pretty interesting.

Poster, accession number RD00042.0011

I'm not a gambler but even I've been known to splash out a 50p each way bet at the Grand National occasionally, using the very scientific method of choosing the horse with the nicest name.

When the former Museum of Liverpool Life was open, a popular exhibit was the recreation of Becher's Brook in the in the Sporting Life section of the Mersey Culture gallery. Looking up at the height of that fence really brought home just what an achievement it was to make it safely over once, let alone twice to complete the race.

Did you know that Becher's Brook got its name at the very first meeting in 1839. Captain Becher was a champion cross-country jockey, but his horse Conrad fell at the first brook. Becher re-mounted and continued the race, only to fall at the second brook! He never rode in the race again, but his name lives on.

Curator Kay Docherty has found this Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport poster in the museum's collections, advertising special tram and bus services to Aintree for the Grand National sixty years ago, on Saturday 29th March 1947.

You can also read a personal account of the 1993 Grand National, famous as the race that never was, from my fellow blogger Stephen Guy, who was one of the journalists covering events at the time. His account is part of the Sport online exhibition. Fingers crossed, things will go more smoothly this year. I might even win something.