MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Tizer]

Wrong side of the country!

[Big Kev]

Manx kippers or is that too far west?

[Stanley]

Let's have a go at Fleetwood, it used to be a big fishing port in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Are these the Scottish lasses who followed the fleet south as the season went on?

[Tizer]

Fleetwood yes, Scottish lasses who followed the fleet south, no. A clue - it's a celebration.

[Stanley]

Anything to do with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company?

[Steeplejerk]

Manx kippers in fleetwood after ww1

[Tizer]

Nothing specifically related to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Stanley, and I don't know the origin of the kippers. The photo shows a kipper being given to a smart gent in Fleetwood as part of a golden jubilee celebration. Can you tell me what they were celebrating?

[Stanley]

The advent of the railway? Fleetwood was one of the ports created by the railway.

[Tizer]

The passenger railway arrived in Fleetwood in the 1840s. This celebration refers to a different part of the railway that arrived later and had its own station.

[Stanley]

Was it the opening of the Wyre Dock branch and station in 1883, later to become the main station for Fleetwood?

[Tizer]

That's near enough Stanley because, in a way, it's a trick photo. Yes, it concerns the opening of the Wyre Dock but it's the Golden Jubilee celebration on 14th October 1927 - it looks like an earlier photo because the fish dock workers dressed up in traditional costume for the event! The man in the big hat receiving kippers is Sir Josiah Stamp, Chairman of the LMS Railway. Wyre Dock passenger station was opened in 1885 but the Jubilee celebrates the opening of the Dock itself in 1877 together with its associated branch line and station for fish and other freight only.

[Stanley]

That took some digging. Cathy triggered me off early on when she was the first to mention kippers......

[Stanley]

What's this?

[Gloria]

Is it something to do with trawling?

[Steeplejerk]

Farming me thinks

[Wendyf]

I think it's a heffalump trap.

[Stanley]

Gloria is straight on the ball! Go on. tell us what you think, proper name please.

[Gloria]

No idea of the name, but is it dragged along with the trawl net?

[Gloria]

Just had a Google furtle and think they are called otter boards.

[Cathy]

Do they hurt Otters? I don’t like the sound of this

[Stanley]

Dead right Gloria and no Cathy, no otters were harmed with this object! One on each side of the mouth of the trawl net keep it open.



What's the correct name for the pear shaped object?

[Tizer]

A leeboard, used on a pivot instead of a fixed keel.

[Stanley]

Curses! We need another one.

[Stanley]

What is it and where? Exact description please....

[plaques]

Drilling for oil near Sabden treacle mines