National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, April 30, 2007

Curator of entomology (that's 'insects' in case you don't know) Guy Knight updates us on research the team is conducting in Cumbria. More on what they discover will follow over the summer, and more snaps can be found on our Flickr page.

Earlier this year, the Entomology Biodiversity Advisory Service at World Museum Liverpool was approached by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust to carry out a survey at Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve.

Smardale Gill NNR. A Malaise trap for sampling flying insects against the impressive industrial architecture of Smardale Gill viaduct, part of the disused Darlington - Tebay railway line.

The Trust aims to provide easy access for visitors to enjoy not only the spectacular wilderness views at the Smardale but also its rich wildlife habitats which include flower-rich grassland, ancient woodland and an unspoilt river. To make sure that these habitats are properly looked after and fully appreciated it is important that the site managers have the most detailed information available on the animals and plants they support.

We worked with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust a few years ago sampling insects at three of their other reserves. This work resulted in records of over 1,500 different species, over 100 of these were rare, threatened or scarce and several hundred had never before been recorded from Cumbria. Over the next year we expect to have similar results at Smardale and are pleased to be working with the Trust again. We will be visiting the site throughout the summer months and posting photographs and updates as the survey work progresses.

Entomology’s Biodiversity Advisory Service supports people’s enjoyment of the natural environment. Work relies on a mix of existing staff, associate and volunteer identification and field survey skills and our research informs species conservation and general site management locally, nationally & internationally. It also reinforces the quality and relevance of our nationally important insect collections. In the last ten years over 40 technical reports & publications have been commissioned, over 100,000 specimens have been identified - including new species to science, Britain and Liverpool.

This painting, May Morning on Magdalen Tower by Holman Hunt, would have been really appropriate if I'd written this post a few hours ago. I suppose it's still morning in some parts of the world - I'll just pretend I'm on New York time, it sounds glamorous. A complete aside, but on the subject of odd timing I noticed that this painting was the Lady Lever Art Gallery's Picture of the Month a few years ago. In July. I'm saying nothing.

Anyway, back to the point. As you probably already know, May is Museums and Galleries Month, an annual UK-wide celebration. As always, we've got lots of free events, activities and exhibitions taking place all month, way too many to list here. I will draw your attention to one in particular though.

The Merseyside Maritime Museum is holding 'The great museums debate', asking what the purpose of modern museums actually is, on Thursday 17 May, 6-8.30pm. Chaired by journalist and broadcaster Gillian Reynolds, speakers include David Fleming of National Museums Liverpool, writer James Delingpole, David Barrie of the Art Fund and Dea Birkett of Kids in Museums.

Do you think that there should be ‘as many people as possible visiting our great museums, not just the wealthy and overseas tourists?’ (David Fleming). Or is the ‘idea of ancient vases being mauled and chipped by mobs of primary schoolchildren’ abhorrent to you? (James Delingpole). This is your chance to have your say.

The debate is free for anyone to join in but places are limited, so please call 0151 478 4402 or email events  to request your free ticket.

See the What's On listings for further details of all our events in May, including the debate.

Loyd Grossman gets to work

Today was a significant date in the story of the Museum of Liverpool. After years of planning, followed by the excavation of the site by our field archaeology unit, work has finally started on site to build the new museum.

The occasion was officially marked with a groundcutting ceremony with our chairman Loyd Grossman. If you can't wait until 2010 to see the finished building, you can find out what it will look like on our capital projects pages.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is for me, Stephen Guy, one of the world’s greatest engineers who created two remarkable ships before building the legendary Great Eastern.

The first was the 2,340-ton Great Western of 1837, the first purpose-built transatlantic steamship which more than halved the time to cross from Britain to America. Powered by sail and paddlewheels, the timber-built Great Western set new standards of travel. Her first journey to New York took just 15 days, with 14 days to return. This was a great success as a one-way trip under sail took more than a month. The 236-ft long Great Western sailed initially from Bristol but later switched to Liverpool. She was for several years the most popular and successful Atlantic steamer, making a total of 74 crossings to New York. 

There is a detailed model of the Great Western in the Merseyside Maritime Museum. She has one funnel and four masts plus an unusual circular poop deck at the stern.

Great Western was later bought by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for service on the Southampton – West Indies mail run. She ended her days as a troop carrier in the Crimean War before being broken up on the Thames in 1857.

A more worthy fate awaited Brunel’s next vessel, the 3,676-ton SS Great Britain – the first modern ship because of many innovative features. This time she was built from iron and was the first propeller-powered ship to cross the Atlantic. Great Britain – also featured in the museum’s model collection - was a tremendously strong ship. On an early voyage the 322 ft long vessel was beached off the southern coat of Ireland for nearly a year. She showed no sign of serious structural damage.

This was another very successful ship, staying in service for 30 years. She sailed with emigrants from Liverpool to Australia for more than 20 years and San Francisco was another destination. Great Britain also served as a troopship.

Towards the end of her career she had her engines removed and operated as a sailing ship.  She was badly damaged in a storm off Cape Horn – a notorious ships’ graveyard – in 1886. However, she managed to make her way to the Falkland  Islands. For more than 100 years Great Britain lay in Sparrow Cove, Port Stanley, in a remarkable state of preservation. She was salvaged by a group of enthusiasts and towed back to Bristol in 1970 where she remains a big visitor attraction.

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

I popped into St George's Hall this lunchtime to check out their recent major refurbishment. It's looking good, but I'll have to go back as I didn't have enough time to go round it all, there's just so much to see now. Being able to go up to the balcony overlooking the main hall was quite a treat, especially as it gives such a good view of the famous Minton tiled floor, which I haven't seen uncovered since I was a student.

Part of the reason I didn't have much time to look round was that I spent so long enthralled by the latest painting by the fabulous Singh Twins in the entrance foyer. It's a modern interpretation of the city's coat of arms, which was unveiled as part of St George's Hall's opening celebrations this week. The minutely detailed artwork is packed full of local landmarks in the sisters' colourful signature style, inspired by traditional Indian miniature painting. I spotted the Piermaster's House at the side of the the Albert Dock, and am sure that I recognised the tiny exhibition banners on the Walker Art Gallery - they look like A Passion for Fashion and George Stubbs: A Celebration. It looks as if the twins were too modest to paint the gallery with the banner for their own exhibition, Past Modern, which was held there the year before last.

If you don't make it round this weekend (which is your last chance before the tiled floor is covered up again) there are some great photos including 360 degree panoramic shots in the BBC website's feature on St George's Hall.

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).