Post 300:10th photo of 8th wonder of the world
I dedicate this post, post 300 to my best friend and brother El Patron, the master...In Shades's photo there are 2 boulders... the one directly in front of the corner of the pyramid here is, I am sure the same one as the one to the right in Shades's photo...so there's one hidden round the front of the pyramid in this one(which can be seen in Shades's)...so including that one, I make it...7 boulders in total...if each square tile on the pyramid was 1", I estimate(by counting up 10 tiles and using the distance to gauge to diameter of a boulder) that each boulder was 35" horizontal diameter & 25" vertical diameter ... 1"=2.54cm, so each boulder was about... 94cm wide and 69cm high!
Alas the trapdoor is not visible, maybe a bit more to the right in the darkness at the bottom right of the pyramid...
The 'metal bit' on the blue part behind the bolders is clearly visible...I estimate 7 metal pillars off the top horizontal bar...we have speculated before as to its purpose:possibly to act as a barrier to littlins in case they got to the edge bit and fell off, or possibly to stop idiots rolling the boulders off over the edge...I said you could just roll them round the side of the metal bit, but I see I was wrong:the metal bar goes right to the edge...I think Shades might have suggested that this was added later to the structure... I remember the duff of walking across the top bit aka a tightrope walker from one end to the other!...another duff was to leap from the blue bit to the concrete wall on the right,hang on and climb up...easy really...but a really difficult duff was to run along the top of the concrete wall from the south(maybe 20cm wide with a sheer horrible drop to the east) and leap across the ramp gap to land on the blue bit...I only ever knew one kid who had the bottle to do this do this from both concrete walls(the north wall is not visible in this photo...it still stands but the south one visible here is long gone...)
Now behind in the background...look at the roofs of the bungalows...I had totally forgotton about the curved skylight windows which allowed access to the roofs internally!...note one is actually open...I just cant recall where exactly they were located on the bungalow...(what I would give to get a plan of the bungalows!...I must go and check to see if the skylights are still on the top of the bungalows today...)
The oddity on the flats at Hartburn?...note the one white panel under the window of the small bedroom on the far right top flat...the rest are blue(incidently the thin triangular windows without under pannel are the toilet windows...)what was the purpose of the panelling?... aesthetics?
I hope you like the photo as much as I do...
Aperfect photo in every sense, brings back loads of memories. I can remember the barrier but not the boulders. Strange that one. We can also see Kenton Comp in the gap between the flats and Kenton Primary. Only spent 3 months there but was good fun
ReplyDeleteThe skylight was in the bog as I recall.............
ReplyDeleteA very satisfying photo. That isn't actually Kenton school in the distance, it is the two schools north of it.
ReplyDeleteI think the skylight was in the Betty as well.
Typo- jetty!
ReplyDeleteFFS, my technology doesn't approve of the word "Netty."
ReplyDeleteThe school in the background was St Thomas Moores('Tommy Moors' as we used to say)-a catholic secondary school that closed when I was at Kenton ...Kenton Comp then did take over the building and it was used for the 6th Form ...so Kev is 1/2 right!
ReplyDeleteMy apologies. I thought Thos Moores was a bit further down hidden by the flats.
ReplyDeleteAlso you'll notice that it was another lovely sunny day. Whatever happened to those?
I reckon the boulder out of view from my photo had been pushed there as it wouldn't align with the graceful curve they were positioned in.
ReplyDeleteFrom memory, each boulder was chemical bolted to a 1/2" thick blue metal plate about 12" in diameter which was then bolted down into the concrete. Whilst they were supposed to be immovable, time and the attentions of feral youths would have loosened them.
In fact the part of Tommy Moors visible was the gym from the side...it was re-christened 'North Block' when annexed by Kenton Comp...
ReplyDeleteShades-from R-L boulders 3&4:might those rectangular impressions be the scars of those blue metal plates long gone?(double click on image)Incidently the blue bit has brought back memories of hoards of kids using it for skateboarding-new post on that soon Zoltan soon...
ReplyDeleteI recall there were no boulders impinging upon the blue tiles - so shades is correct - an example of wanton vandalism
ReplyDeletethe young swines...
ReplyDeleteThey did impinge each end, as suggested in this photo. One one the angled blue each end and one on the flat by the Pyramid.
ReplyDeleteThat is how I remember it, anyway.
Maybe when the skateboard craze hit the skaters moved heaven & earth(that is the boulders)so to as to maximise the skateboarding area on the blue bit-maybe that' might explain the master's recollection-post skateboard epoch...
ReplyDeleteISTR chopper bikes in abundance round about 1969/1970, that may have precipitated the boulder bouncing.
ReplyDeleteI had a chopper and dont think thats why the bolders were moved-the chopper was used to go from the top of RyalWalk, free wheel down to the shops..keep going across the grass to the north of the pyry then down Reestones Road onto the ring road(Hazeldene ave) then onward to the bottom...then down the track through the fields as far as possible(maybe where the metro lines are now) all freewheeling!-no, I am convinced the skateboard era proved to be the coup de grace for any bolder on the blue bit...space was at a premium for the up to 20 kids at any one time!
ReplyDeleteWent back to Kenton Bar to check...a glorious dawn, the sun rising up over the bungalows, only GOM out & about...a moving moment...the skylights are still there!
ReplyDeleteI reckon the horizontal marks on the boulders are from the mould, it was in two halves but I can't remember whether they reused it or if they had to cast each one from the original rock each time.
ReplyDelete(I have vague memories of seeing the prototype but not the subsequent ones).
I think those lateral lines are the marks where the boulders have been split in half by alien visitors from Venus. They planted listening devices inside the rocks to observe the people of earth. Unfortunately after having landed in Newcastle and observing the locals for a few weeks they thought better of visiting us and flew off again. They are now trying to communicate with the microbes under the rocks on the surface of Mars - they are getting a lot more sense from them...............
ReplyDeleteI reckon the horizontal marks on the boulders are from the mould, it was in two halves but I can't remember whether they reused it or if they had to cast each one from the original rock each time.
ReplyDelete(I have vague memories of seeing the prototype but not the subsequent ones).