Friday, 16 September 2011

THE WALKING MEN

The ongoing battle to save Whitby's iconic piers demands that all of us realise what an incredible feat of engineering it took to build them.


Looking at these photographs taken in 1913 you could almost be forgiven for thinking that Whitby had been invaded by Martian machines, reminiscent of those found in H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds, whose sole aim would appear to be the destruction of the town.

But these ’Walking Men’ as the machines were colloquially known, were in fact here to build the east and west pier extensions, a necessary improvement which helped vessels trying to negotiate the sometimes treacherous harbour mouth.



 


at

1 comment:

  1. Marnie2 November 2011 at 09:59

    What?! This post is a month old but it only showed up in my updates yesterday!! Good one, Blogger...

    Anyway, it's been my experience with local councils that the denying of financial investment is rarely a result of lack of funding as councils always have their own agenda and just seem to manage their coffers extremely poorly, except when it comes to staff pay rises of course.

    I hope that these gorgeous piers are preserved. They are quite magnificent. I will likely never see them in person, but it's always worth preserving the history of a place. I read the newspaper article you linked to. I hope that the campaign is successful : )

    ReplyDelete