It remains a working quay and home to historic craft particularly Thames sailing barges. The fabric of main wetherboarded building is listed for it's historic value, the grazing marsh around is protected as a RAMSAR site but the crafts and trades which have centuries of unbroken history are not recognised in the same way as being part of the heritage of the area so they have to compete in hard financial terms. The owners of the buildings are likely to make more money if they could evict the craftsmen and convert the buildings to luxury homes. That looks likely to happen in 2011 and the council appear to be supporting development.
So what crafts go on here? Boatbuilding including a scheme with 4 apprentices learning traditional techniques and a working blockmaker (I would be interested to know how many of those are left in the UK) The quay is one of only two yards left specialising in the repair and maintenance of Thames barges and is in continuous demand. Here is blockmaker Colin Frake and a link to his website
learn more about the film project here. http://www.thequayfilm.net/?page_id=116
Learn more about the quay or get involved in the campaign to save it here. http://standardquay.com/
A very similar campaign has been highly successful at Portland Works in Sheffield, there too the building was protected but not the wide range of craft skills going on inside, the landlord saw it only as a potentially lucrative development.
Around the world other countries are signed up to the UNESCO convention on intangible cultural heritage which recognises that heritage is more than just bricks and mortar, that living history of practices that have gone on in a place for centuries that are equally important parts of our heritage.
This blog by HCA supporter and guest blogger Nigel Townsend
It was interesting to see on Edwardian farm, episode three, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w6lm6 how human and horse power was being replaced by the internal combustion engine. Below are my highlights, but it is definitely worth watching the whole thing. A programme that covers ploughing, steam powered saw mills, forging using water power and includes the sight of a man carrying a bowl of freshly squeezed trout eggs through a wood to his home built hatchery can’t be bad.
By the beginning of the 20th Century, farms increasingly had to become profit making rather than just being self sufficient. In addition cheaper imports from abroad meant that British farmers and land owners had to get one step ahead of the game to keep up with these new markets. Jobs had to be completed quicker and more efficiently, this meant taking advantage of new technology and mechanisation. A theme that runs through this episode of Edwardian Farm.
For centuries, ploughing was done by a team of men and shire horses:
As Peter Ginn said, “[ploughing is] an art, a skill, a science, in a word a way of life.” Ploughing was skilled work and when done properly, every furrow would be cleanly cut and be like turning a page in a book. It was a real contrast then to watch the Ivel tractor use brute power to relentlessly push through the soil. Gone was the skilled work of the ploughman, who used his brain and brawn to overcome inconsistencies in the land, instead it had been replaced by the noisy, heavy, internal combustion engine, which meant that twice as much work could be done in half the time.
In Edwardian times there were a million shire horses working in the UK, just fifty years later shire horses were nearly extinct in Britain.
This you tube clip looks a project which celebrates traditional farming methods:
Hedges are an important part of stock management and land enclosure. The use of hedges meant that stock could be confined to one area and rotated onto fresh pasture, enabling a constant source of feed throughout the year. A vital part of ensuring that your hedges remained effective barriers to wandering sheep, was hedge laying the best source of info is the National Hedge Laying Society http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/styles.htm
In order to do the hedge laying HCA patron Alex Langlands required a bill hook and headed to Finches Forge http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-finchfoundry a national trust property in Devon. Here Alex watched Simon Summers work a tilt hammer to forge a traditional Devon billhook. Billhook patterns were often shaped differently in different parts of the country and there are around eleven main bill hook patterns of which in turn there are many variations .
Forging using water power was common place in the 18th and 19th century – and was still in use during the first half of the 20th century This film (filmed in colour in 1941), shows Clay Wheel forge in Sheffield :
you can see just how powerful the large tilt hammer was, and while I didn’t count, it certainly looks like the hammer falls at least at the rate of 240 beats per minute!
If you are in Northern Ireland you can visit Paterson’s Spade Mill, now a national trust property http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-pattersonsspademill and watch red hoot steel be turned into spades by the power of water, in fact Robin visited Patterson’s last year: http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2009/08/pattersons-spade-mill.html
So what were your favourite bits? I'm always keen to see films of traditional crafts being done well, so if you know of any post here or add a link to our facebook page
The Heritage Crafts Association has a new administrator. We were overwhelmed with the number (241) and quality of applicants. We interviewed five excellent candidates and appointed Sally Dodson to start in mid January. Originally trained as a silversmith Sally worked at the Crafts Council running and improving their database of makers and has since been involved in promotion and events management at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. We are thrilled to have such a talented and committed new member joining the HCA team and very much appreciate the grant from the Headley Trust that made it possible.
Meet John Penrose MP for Weston-super-Mare and minister for Heritage and Tourism.
Following our meeting last week John Penrose has sent us the following message of support.
“ The Heritage Crafts Association has brought together a fine range of different living crafts which are valuable parts of our heritage. The Association’s commitment to supporting small businesses all over the country producing useful, functional and decorative objects in traditional ways is truly impressive. I hope the increased public interest in these hands-on crafts will lead to many more people exploring and deploying these skills so that they are not lost to future generations. The fact that the BBC has given 12 hours of prime time tv to “The Edwardian Farm” is a measure of the public’s enthusiasm. “
This may seem like a simple little statement but it means so much to those of us who work in the traditional crafts to finally gain some degree of recognition. My first blog of 2010 was titled "2010 year for traditional crafts to be recognised as part of our heritage" Once we are recognised as being important we can begin to work on addressing some of the issues the sector faces but for many simply having recognition for the years of hard work mastering difficult skills is enough.
Just to compare how big a step this is have a look back at a few blog posts showing attitudes to traditional crafts from just last year.
Do you know anyone that sews or does embroidery and apreciates lovely handmade things?
Then how about these for a gorgeous Christmas present.
Hand made in Sheffield gold plated and they work perfectly. They come in a leather sheath and presentation box delivered to your door for just £20 which I think is a bit of a bargain but then you are buying them direct from the makers. Ernest Wright of Sheffield.
Here is Cliff setting a pair of tailors shears.
And demonstrating setting the embroidery scissors at the V&A at the HCA launch event last year.
The gold plated ones suit small hands for larger hands like mine the slightly bigger "antique" finish polished steel ones work best.
Here are their contact details, they are nice folk and it's easy to order by phoning and posting a check or you can use the website. I suspect if you want to order multiple pairs for more gifts there would be saved post costs. They do great tailors shears and kitchen scissors too.
Tel : 0114 273 9977 (with answering facility, should we ever not be in the office. Please remember we are a small company.)
Some videos today, first potters in Pakistan. The skill, dexterity and effortless speed of production is impressive. At 7.40 he throws a pot in 5 seconds, that is mind boggling.
and another from India, I don't know that much about throwing pots but I imagine throwing very tall thin forms like this is not so easy and they are incredibly consistent.
Now Ai Weiwei and his sunflower seeds. I watched this film last week and then went to see the seeds on display at Tate modern. It's a real shame you can't walk on them as the artist intended but I was most impressed by the film and the meaning behind the making. Having done a bit of web searching about his other work and political meaning I think Ai Weiwei is rapidly becoming one of my favourite artists. The film starts slow and is 15 minutes long but it really is worth it and for folk who are more into craft than art, don't worry there is plenty of craft.
This is what it should have been like, and was on opening day/
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