Castle Aching

[Hroth]

And a bit closer to Norfolk....

 

 

Steep Hill in Lincoln.  I particularly like the thoughtful placing of the handrail in the middle of the street to either help you haul your self up, or to retard your uncontrolled descent.....

 

 

A couple of thoughts:  the for sale signs seem to indicate that the inhabitants thought it was a pictureskew place to live and lived to regret their decision, and I bought a portable wind-up gramophone in a shop a bit further up the hill.  It was such fun cruising along the Witham to Boston with it on the roof of Das Boot in the manner of the Hullabaloos..... 

 

The George Formby 78s  that came with the gramophone were not to everyones taste....

Edited October 11, 2018 by Hroth

[Martin S-C]

See, I don't actually use chicken wire. I get bit chunks of cellotex from work and carve it to the shape I want. Old school. Might want to try getting your hands on some.

Also Annie, amazing link, thanks a bunch.

Oh yes, lots of spare Celotex offcuts from the garage job

[RedGemAlchemist]

Oh yes, lots of spare Celotex offcuts from the garage job

Glad to be of help to you. Hopefully I'll have given James something to think about too.

[Martin S-C]

Glad to be of help to you. Hopefully I'll have given James something to think about too.

 

I had asked for the Celotex and timber offcuts to be saved for me a few days ago when the job started, but its always good to get someone else who uses the same material - it confirms the stuff is as useful for modelling as it looks.

 

[TT-Pete]

I had asked for the Celotex and timber offcuts to be saved for me a few days ago when the job started, but its always good to get someone else who uses the same material - it confirms the stuff is as useful for modelling as it looks.

 

 

I have a huge pile of the stuff stacked behind the wood shed, leftovers from the construction. Hoping it won't mind being exposed to the elements over Winter as it's starting to go a bit yellow and raggedy around the edges, maybe should look at getting it under cover somewhere....

 

Have more timber offcuts than you can shake a stick at, probable Summer House material.

[phil_sutters]

That's not steep. This is steep:

 

https://st2.depositphotos.com/2130195/5538/i/950/depositphotos_55381657-stock-photo-lighthouse-on-beachy-head-england.jpg

Meanwhile about eight miles west, it's a lot easier going down according to my grand-daughter. That's her on the right, about to launch...  It looks like that lot has been carved out of Celotex. I once saw a couple of cyclists who had ridden onto the path that runs along the bottom of the cliff, realizing that, having got on to the path on the level at Rottingdean, they were going to have to carry their bikes up the steps.These have been built into the carved out chalk cliffs at the eastern end of the path, where it finishes before Newhaven Heights.

Edited October 11, 2018 by phil_sutters

[Argos]

 

Now although this 'fold' seems more like a bloody great trench in places, it still fits between bits of real Norfolk.

 

That reminds me, about ten years ago I was involved with a project to improve a main drainage ditch and pumping station to alleviate flooding around Kings Lynn.

 

The ditch was expanded to be several meters wide and deep and rather ironically named Puny Drain.

[Edwardian]

I know we've had this before, but Pidley is the home of a mountain rescue team!

 

Perception of height is different in the Fens where every bump is a hill.

 

Mind you, there are weird places like Holme Fen, which lies some 9' below sea level and where peat shrinkage resulting from drainage exposed posts once wholly beneath the surface.  Now wooded, the secretive paths of Holme Fen are the haunt of courting couples eager to join the prestigious Nine Feet Below Club.

[wagonman]

The underlying geology of north Norfolk is a lot of chalk, the bedding of which tilts up towards the west – as you can see in the cliffs at Hunstanton where the chalk overlies the carstone. I believe there is shale beneath the chalk/carstone which could be a problem if the frackers get wind of it...

 

The north coast is mostly fronted with saltmarsh but I am less familiar with the west coast south of Hunny. The land is mostly gently undulating hills given over to arable farming of the C18 'improved' variety. Much of it is owned by the Cokes of Holkham, the Townshends of Raynham, and the Le Stranges of Hunstanton. I presume the Erstwhiles must have a slivver or two. Really my knowledge of the west of this county is very lacking – I don't get out much – and is little more than a blank with "there be dragons" scrawled across it. I think there's somewhere called Docking in the midst of it all.

[Donw]

Beer? You can't call that beer! It's not beer, it's sex in a punt.

 

Well, I have been following the contours of the recent elevating discussions and it tends to something that has been nagging away at me for sometime. 

 

The expanded Norfolk runs along a 'fold in the map', mainly north south, but with cross folds, too.

 

Now although this 'fold' seems more like a bloody great trench in places, it still fits between bits of real Norfolk.

 

Once we leave the station limits of CA, this is going to cause me problems unless I can grasp the nature of the landscape, contours and all, into which Expanded Norfolk must be stitched.

 

What I feel I really need is a very big relief map of western Norfolk, that I can then saw into!

 

Micro geography I am fine with.  I can draw on experience to arrange a Norfolk village around a Norman motte, I can arrange the outskirts of a market town where the railway stops, I can navigate the streets and quays of an inland port, and I can chart a course for the Line beside the salt marsh to a silted-up coastal harbour. 

 

What I realise I lack is the Bigger Picture.

 

How are the Achings, a shallow valley and watercourse fitted in?

 

What, I wonder, is the terrain up the line to the Massinghams and on the branch east to Achingham?

 

What do we find when we reach the north coast?  Birchoverham Staithe is a harbour in decline, largely silted up and doing limited trade with shallow draft vessels.  Think Burnham Overy Staithe, of course.

 

But what about the burgeoning resort of Birchoverham Next the Sea? Are we looking at something like Burnham or Holkham, a wide beach with dunes and salt marsh behind, or do we gain a bump in the ground, resulting in a shallow cliff, topped with extravagant hotels and villas, much like Cromer, with, perhaps, the West Norfolk terminus occupying the sort of narrow shelf so convenient to layout planning 'twixt cliff and beach?

 

Insufficient knowledge of the wider locality, of sort you really only get from walking the ground - and a poor grasp of geology generally, I fear!

 

I think as long as you stay within the bounds of what could be found elsewhere in Norfolk it will be believable. Sea cliffs the size of Exmoor, the granite Tors of Dartmoor or the rock formations of the peak district would not feel like Norfolk.

 

Incidently if you want flatlands with a bit of steepness Somerset is a good place to be. There are flat bits where the lands are crossed with rhines and the larger drainage channels with pumps to keep the  water levels down and not far away the hills reach to 1000ft with steep sides. I lived in Periton Lane Minhead where the lane met the A39 it became a track up the hill. The track was about as steep in places as one could get and still be walking.  The quantocks are the same. We look out to the Brendon hills where the Mineral line had the longest incline in the country up to 400m. I know there are lots of places higher and the size of the flat areas cannot match the fens but few get so much in a small area. 

[phil_sutters]

I think as long as you stay within the bounds of what could be found elsewhere in Norfolk it will be believable. Sea cliffs the size of Exmoor, the granite Tors of Dartmoor or the rock formations of the peak district would not feel like Norfolk.

 

Incidently if you want flatlands with a bit of steepness Somerset is a good place to be. There are flat bits where the lands are crossed with rhines and the larger drainage channels with pumps to keep the  water levels down and not far away the hills reach to 1000ft with steep sides. I lived in Periton Lane Minhead where the lane met the A39 it became a track up the hill. The track was about as steep in places as one could get and still be walking.  The quantocks are the same. We look out to the Brendon hills where the Mineral line had the longest incline in the country up to 400m. I know there are lots of places higher and the size of the flat areas cannot match the fens but few get so much in a small area. 

Them rhines do eat engines! Poor old 76 did vall in when er ad an argument wi a peat train.

There is a steep bit in the middle of the Levels. Please do not start a discussion about the type of Nissen hut on the right. That was done at length in another thread. It's way out of period anyway.

Edited October 11, 2018 by phil_sutters

[corneliuslundie]

" It was such fun cruising along the Witham to Boston"

Would that be along the Witham Navigable Drains? Such a romantic name, don't you think?

But that is not Norfolk.

From memory of the bus trip from Kings Lynn to East Rudham, the landcsape is mostly gently rolling with quite a lot of woodland nearer Lynn, though some of the latter may be modern. Much like many other areas of Britain, in fact.

Jonathan

[runs as required]

I can't see whats wrong with (what I think gets called) Psychogeography. Its all in the mind - but it is extremely powerful and operates at many levels.

 

At its mildest it might be termed perceptual geography - of interest to me wearing my professional planner's hat (eg Edwardian's dislike of MK). At its most elemental it is knowing where you are  - which way to walk to the Castle from the WNR station (reaching the castle caused Kafka dire problems) - being able to point to north when asked - the Chinese devised a statue mounted on a trolley that always pointed north when pulled around Beijing from the Forbidden City from time to time to overawe the citizenry.

 

It is claimed that Durham City is the most difficult place for visitors to draw a perceptual map of.

 

At its most sinister Psychogeography affects your credit ratings. (near us new housing in Swallwell - formerly associated with steel making and putrid smelling coke-ovens - became desirable once re-branded 'Low' Whickham!

dh

[Nearholmer]

What I find odd (worrying?) is that having grown-up in Sussex, but moved away from there in my early twenties, I still have a mental geography that is referenced to a very specific place in East Sussex ...... like some salmon that knows exactly which river to swim back up. Wherever else I am, the referencing works on the basis of "offset" from a personal grid 000 000, The Origin.

 

Assuming (for the purposes of comfort) that (a) I'm not mad, and (b) everyone else has a very strong sense of 'base reference', it makes me really feel for people who become refugees, because their sense of displacement must be more than cultural/familial, which must be terrible in itself, it must have an awfully physical sensation to it too.

[Hroth]

" It was such fun cruising along the Witham to Boston"

Would that be along the Witham Navigable Drains? Such a romantic name, don't you think?

But that is not Norfolk.

From memory of the bus trip from Kings Lynn to East Rudham, the landcsape is mostly gently rolling with quite a lot of woodland nearer Lynn, though some of the latter may be modern. Much like many other areas of Britain, in fact.

Jonathan

Nahhhh....

 

The Witham Navigational Drains lie to the north of the River Witham which is navigable from Brayford Pool in Lincoln (which joins with the Roman Foss Dyke to the Trent at Torksey), to Boston Grand Sluice, where it joins the tide to the Wash.  The Navigable Drains are accessed through the lock at Anton's Gowt, a little north of Boston and it is possible to reach Boston by the Town Drain, a prospect that might have pleased the Rev Spooner...

 

Anton's Gowt looked a bit rickety when we were there, so we carried on to the Grand Sluice, encountering a seal swimming in the river along the way...

 

 

I can't see whats wrong with (what I think gets called) Psychogeography. Its all in the mind - but it is extremely powerful and operates at many levels.

 

At its mildest it might be termed perceptual geography - of interest to me wearing my professional planner's hat (eg Edwardian's dislike of MK). At its most elemental it is knowing where you are  - which way to walk to the Castle from the WNR station (reaching the castle caused Kafka dire problems) - being able to point to north when asked - the Chinese devised a statue mounted on a trolley that always pointed north when pulled around Beijing from the Forbidden City from time to time to overawe the citizenry.

 

It is claimed that Durham City is the most difficult place for visitors to draw a perceptual map of.

 

At its most sinister Psychogeography affects your credit ratings. (near us new housing in Swallwell - formerly associated with steel making and putrid smelling coke-ovens - became desirable once re-branded 'Low' Whickham!

dh

 

I do like the concept of Psychogeography (Though it does make me think that its a description of how you get to the Bates Motel...).  For a long while, my appreciation of the geography of England was conditioned by the navigable canals and rivers and how long it took to get from one town to another using them. Anywhere not accessable by canal may well have been labelled "Here Be Dragons"...

[TT-Pete]

What I find odd (worrying?) is that having grown-up in Sussex, but moved away from there in my early twenties, I still have a mental geography that is referenced to a very specific place in East Sussex ...... like some salmon that knows exactly which river to swim back up. Wherever else I am, the referencing works on the basis of "offset" from a personal grid 000 000, The Origin.

 

Assuming (for the purposes of comfort) that (a) I'm not mad, and (b) everyone else has a very strong sense of 'base reference', it makes me really feel for people who become refugees, because their sense of displacement must be more than cultural/familial, which must be terrible in itself, it must have an awfully physical sensation to it too.

 

Not just refugees, I can relate to this too having left the UK age 6 my "offset" is still distanced from a personal grid 000 000 (I love that concept) in Luxembourg, even though I left there for good in 1996 and no friends or family are left there, somehow inside it's still there...

 

When people ask me where in the UK I'm from I can't name anywhere specific, but I do tend to have a connection with wherever I am living at the time...

[Talltim]

I’m sure there’s a passage in The Hitch-hikers Guide about homesickness relating to distance but I can’t find it at present

[Caley Jim]

When people ask me where in the UK I'm from I can't name anywhere specific, but I do tend to have a connection with wherever I am living at the time...

When growing up in the 1950's/60's my father was a primary school headmaster and we moved 3 times in 10 years. When asked where I was from I tend to reply ' no fixed abode'!

 

Jim

[Regularity]

I always thought that the pertinent phrase was “human geography”. I gave no idea what “psychogeography” is.

[Nearholmer]

I’m guessing that psychogeography is about the mental models of geography that people carry, whereas human geography is about settlement and other human activity in relation to natural/physical geography.

[Donw]

What I find odd (worrying?) is that having grown-up in Sussex, but moved away from there in my early twenties, I still have a mental geography that is referenced to a very specific place in East Sussex ...... like some salmon that knows exactly which river to swim back up. Wherever else I am, the referencing works on the basis of "offset" from a personal grid 000 000, The Origin.

 

Assuming (for the purposes of comfort) that (a) I'm not mad, and (b) everyone else has a very strong sense of 'base reference', it makes me really feel for people who become refugees, because their sense of displacement must be more than cultural/familial, which must be terrible in itself, it must have an awfully physical sensation to it too.

 

Well having moved around quite a bit I seem multiple reference points

Don

[Martin S-C]

I wonder how the denizens of Castle Aching feel? Their home reference is a fictitious fold in a map, that must be jolly confusing.

[TT-Pete]

"mental models of geography"

 

Whereas at 16 I found geography mental, getting a D at GCE O level. 

[Regularity]

I’m guessing that psychogeography is about the mental models of geography that people carry, whereas human geography is about settlement and other human activity in relation to natural/physical geography.

That would make it a sub-discipline of psychology, then, and have relatively little to do with the geography of a particular place and how humans have interacted with it, which is why I mentioned human geography in the first place.

 

I think, given the context of the initial mention of “psychogeography”, what was being referred to was possibly psychographics (descriptions of types of people based on preferences and how they to some extent make reference to the outside world) or more probably psychogeographics (same thing but applied via statistical models to the areas in which people live). These are definitely psychological profiles, mapped against other data and applied typically to the post code system. I have used such things in the dim and distant past, working with “big data” before we bothered to call it that. Indeed, two of my friends have been intimately involved with developing at least one of the products available on the data market. At one point about 20 years ago, it nearly became my career. Phew, that was lucky!

I wonder how the denizens of Castle Aching feel? Their home reference is a fictitious fold in a map, that must be jolly confusing.

On the plus side, their modern descendants won’t be getting any junk mail.

[Edwardian]

I wonder how the denizens of Castle Aching feel? Their home reference is a fictitious fold in a map, that must be jolly confusing.

 

Stuck in a rut, I should think.