The Bowder Stone- A Geological Puzzle

The Bowder (or Boulder Stone) is a large, balanced piece of rock that was deposited in Keswick. The 2000 ton stone measures 30ft in height, 50ft across and has a circumference of 90ft. It is not composed of a rock type native to the area and it has been suggested that the stone may be a 'glacial erratic', a rock carried by a glacier, probably originating in Scotland during the last ice age. It's name is thought to derive from  the son of the Norse God Odin, 'Balder'. At present, the area surrounding the stone is owned by the National Trust but it was originally purchased by a gentleman called John Pocklington in 1798, and he is responsible for erecting the ladder still present today, allowing visitors to climb on top of the stone. Mr Pocklington also built a 'mock' hermitage for a lady guide at the stone. The area underneath the stone has been dug out slightly to allow visitors to climb under the stone and reach around to hold hands with one another. The stone is currently leased to Northumbria Mountaineering Club for use as a climbing resource.

An alternative theory to the Bowder Stone is that it was deposited as a result of a rock fall from nearby crags. There are no abrasions on the rock which would be expected if it were to have been carried by a glacier and the rock is the same rock type as that found at the Hells Wall area of Bouder Crag nearby. The Bowder Stone is a fine grained, Andesite lava rock which was created during the Ordovician period. This has been concluded from  its composition of between 65-50 % silica.  It is therefore c. 4 million years old and is probably part of the Borrowdale volcanic rock group.

The Bowder Stone has a very enigmatic appearance within it's landscape and has been painted by a number of landscape artists. John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) depicted the stone in oil on canvas. in Romanticism  style, in his painting produced sometime between 1863 and 1868. The painting is now part of the Tate Collection. The stone has also been painted by E Hodder which can be viewed on the 'Your Paintings' website. Other artwork is also held in collections at Leeds, these pieces are said to depict great realism  and the detail of the stone.

I have found many black and white glass plate negatives within the Joseph Hardman archive capturing the stone, including those visitors brave enough to climb on top of it!

References

www.visitcumbria.com/kes/the-bowder.stone.htm
www.wikipaintings.org/en/john-atkinson-grimshaw/bowder_stone_borrowdale
Lava in the Lakes- The Bowder Stone (website)
www.geocaching.com/seek/cache-details.aspx?guid=le479fe4-86f1-4429-bdOb-df3bdcb2c22e
www.suite101.com/article/the-bowderstone-in-the-lake-district-a/57576
The Story of the Bowder Stone by Alan Smith Rigg Side Publications (2003)

The Bowder Stone (with access ladder)- Joseph Hardman Archive, The Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

Side view of the Bowder Stone and ladder- Joseph Hardman Archive, The Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

Colour Postcard from 1890
(http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/the-bowder-stone.htm)

Bowder Stone, Borrowdale by John Atkinson Grimshaw c. 1870
(http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/john-atkinson-grimshaw/bowder-stone-borrowdale)

The Sinking of the Lady of the Lake...

After two weeks of scanning, I have been introduced to various new places and aspects of the Lake District, many of which I had no prior knowledge of. I have found that many of the glass plate negatives taken by Joseph Hardman, capture boats, people or animals within the setting of lakes including Wastwater, Windermere and Ullswater. Perhaps of particular interest with the current redevelopment of the Windermere Steamboat Museum by The Lakeland Arts Trust, are the many boats that have served on the multiple lakes of the Lake District throughout history. In this post, I will look at one steamboat captured in Joseph Hardman's negatives called the 'Lady of the Lake' who in my opinion, has a very interesting biography.

Launched in 1845 and in service until 1865, the 'Lady of the Lake' was the first steamboat to operate on an English Lake. A launching ceremony on the 26th June 1877 took place at Newby Bridge and it was reported in the Illustrated London News. The vessel was built by Richard Ashburner of Greenodd for Windermere Steam Yacht Company.After completion, Lady of the Lake was 80ft in length, had a beam of 11.5ft, measured a depth of 6.4ft and was installed with a steam engine of 20 hp. The vessel weighed in after completion at 42.7 tonnes.

Her construction was predominantly wood with a short bowsprit and a tall funnel which sat behind the paddle boxes. The funnel was painted black with a single broad white stripe. Her hull was finished in black and gold with a white figurehead. The Lady of the Lake had her maiden voyage to Ambleside, during which the Kendal Cavalry band played for passengers travelling on the voyage. The vessel was originally built as a screw steamer but had to be converted to a paddle steamer due to the water at Newby Bridge being too shallow. In her role as a paddle steamer, the Lady of the Lake aided travel along the River Leven to a terminus at the Swan Hotel.The Lady of the Lake had a maximum capacity of 200 passengers, offering first class travel in a saloon fitted with mirrors and carpets.

Originally the Lady of the Lake was designed by Mr Douglas Hebson of Penrith and was built in Glasgow by Joseph Seath & Company. The parts for the Steamer had to be transported in three sections by rail to Penrith, then by horse to the waterside where the vessel was constructed at Elder Beck.

During the last week of the digitisation project, I came across some unusual images of what appeared to be a half sunken vessel at moorings. After carrying out some research, I have established that the vessel captured in the negatives may have been the Lady of the Lake, who it is recorded, sank twice. She first sank at her moorings in 1881 and then again during a severe storm in 1958. Fortunately, although damaged by these events, the vessel was still salavgable and was kindly restored by Lord Wakefield and was relaunched on the 19th May 1979.

Some images of the Lady of the Lake can be seen in this blog, both captured through Joseph Hardman's glass plate negatives and also some more recent colour photographs of her in action.

References:

Windermere Lake Cruises-Company History (Website)
www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/aboutus-details.php?id=6

Windermere Historic Boat Collection-Steamboat Museum (Website)
www.steamboats.org.uk/windermere-historic-boat-collection

Colour Photograph of Lady of the Lake by Steve T
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/34759699

Half sunken Lady of the Lake (Joseph Hardman Archive- Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry)



Half sunken Lady of the Lake




More recent colour photograph of Lady of the Lake



Photograph of Joseph Hardman!

http://heritagephotoarchive.co.uk/p290468779/h2652f83#h2652f83

Heritage Photo Archive containing Joseph Hardman photographs

Welcome!

This week I have taken up my new post of Project Assistant with the Lakeland Arts Trust, at the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry. Within this role, I will be working with a collection of photographic negatives produced by the photographer Joseph Hardman. Originally from Radcliffe in Manchester, Joseph moved to Kendal in 1911 where he joined a local photographic society allowing his interest in photography to grow. For the last 30 years of his life, Joseph travelled to every part of the Lake District by taxi working as a freelance photographer and allowing him to create an invaluable record of a rapdily disappearing Lakeland life during the mid-twentieth century. Joseph also spent time working for the Westmorland Gazette and had many of his photographs published.

The photographic equipment used by Joseph Hardman would have been very different to the type commonly used today. It would have comprised of a view camera, inside which glass plates coated in light sensitive emulsion were placed. When exposed to the light, an image would have been captured as a permanent record within the photographic emulsion onto the plate. These are known as glass plate negatives and from them, it is possible to produce black and white photographic prints. It is possible to purchase some of Joseph Hardman's black and white prints of the Lake District from the shop at the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry.

At the start of this week, I was introduced to the task that lies ahead of me by James Arnold, the Assistant Curator of Social History at the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry. James has already scanned and catalogued 1500 of the glass plate negatives leaving 3000 remaining for myself to complete. To scan the negatives I will be using a standard flatbed scanner to capture raw images, which will then be edited using Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. At the same time I will catalogue information about each negative recording details such as their accession  number, a brief description, condition and tag words. The second part of the project will then be to upload the images onto a specially commissioned online library which will allow members of the public to search through the scanned images. Not only is this a method of safeguarding the images, but it is also hoped that the online library will provide an excellent resource from which further research or enquiries regarding the Joseph Hardman archive can be made.

The post of Project Assistant has been kindly funded by the Gannett Foundation and the deadline for completion of the digitisation project is the end of 2012.

Within this blog, I hope to bring you a brief insight into some of the very interesting and fascinating landscapes, locations and aspects of mid-twentieth century Lakeland Life that have been captured in these images, including any unusual or funny stories that I may also uncover!

I hope you will find the blog interesting!