Friday night quiz

[DaveBrigg]

Full marks to Worms for the old testament guide to scaffolding to protect roofers. It appears in the bible just after the rule banning women from wearing men's clothing, and the instruction to bring a son who will not obey you to the town elders, who should then stone him to death. As if falling either side of a ceiling joist while insulating the loft were not bad enough, Deuteronomy also states that a man with crushed testicles cannot enter a church.

 

[worms]

I don't think they really had scaffolding in mind, so much as a small wall round the parapet to stop you falling off!

But if everyone is ready to move on from matters biblical to something more prosaic and secular...

10 minutes on Google should get you answers on these two A-listed bridges, both of which are amongst my favourite structures:

The first question is who built this charming little bridge to get to his front door - about ten years before he designed a rather larger version?

And what is so special about this railway bridge?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I know the first one very well - but can't quite place it. I think it is the old sheep bridge on the road to Letters/Logie just outside Ullapool.

Edit - yep, was right. Have driven past it 100s of times, but couldn't quite place it along the route. It is Auchindrean Bridge (also known as Inverbroom Bridge) at the road junction of the A835 Inverness-Ullapool road, at the branch to Letters and Logie. One of the most beautiful parts of the world on this planet. The in-laws run the best B&B in Scotland on the loch-front in Ullapool. Won't break forum rules and advertise, but PM me if you're interested...

Edit 2 - Sir John Fowler (of Metropolitan line fame, etc) designed the bridge in around 1870, having bought Inverbroom Estate in 1867. It looks reminiscent of the sections of the Forth Railway Bridge?

 

[worms]

Well done FamilyWiggs, I knew it would be all too easy for the well-connected folk of PPUK. Yes, No 1 is Auchindrean Bridge, built by John Fowler before he went on to do the Forth Railway bridge.

And No 2?

 

[Penners]

a man with crushed testicles cannot enter a church.

I suspect he also hath trouble entering a pair of tight jeans.
:x

 

[Penners]

And what is so special about this railway bridge?

I'm guessing here, but is it the fact that it's had to be shored up, to stop it dumping the 11.53 from Edinburgh into the burn?

 

[Feltwell]

a man with crushed testicles cannot enter a church.

Unless of course they are short of a soprano for the choir.

 

[fjpdesigns]

Viaduct at Moy me thinks. The only wooden viaduct on the UK rail system. Built in 1887 and repaired in 2003 with a new internal structure.

 

[Penners]

I'm so relieved that I didn't know that.

 

[fjpdesigns]

Neither did I. It were Google wot dun it.

 

[Penners]

OK - I'm 24 hours early, but here's this week's question.

To whom did the larger suit of armour belong? It stands in The Tower of London.

He was 6ft 7in tall.

 

[robgil]

is it Dr Evil? is that mini me standing beside him?

 

[Schoolmarm]

john of gaunt, duke of gloucester.

 

[Penners]

Well done, 'Marm. Either you're very knowledgeable or the question was too easy.

I suspect the former.

He was a fascinating character, not least for his stature. 6ft 7in is very tall by today's standards - in the 14th century he must have been regarded as an absolute giant.

An ancestor of the Tudor dynasty, I believe.

 

[robgil]

so who is the small guy? is that a face i see in the helmet?

 

[Schoolmarm]

I cheated I thought it was Henry VIII so I went off googling but it threw John of Gaunt up. :lol:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'm so relieved that I didn't know that.

I on the other hand had managed to Google that last night - but then someone must've bumped the ghostly thread because the site then had as much life as a Brown reshuffle. Grr. :x

Actually I suspect it may not be the only entirely wooden railway viaduct - plus it looks like it has a couple of concrete struts now.

 

[worms]

Viaduct at Moy me thinks. The only wooden viaduct on the UK rail system. Built in 1887 and repaired in 2003 with a new internal structure.

Quite right! (Although more correctly Allt na Slanaich Viaduct).

"1897. 5-span wooden trestle railway bridge; heavy timbers, each trestle with substantial buttress props either side; all bolted and braced with metal ties. Metal plated parapet with simple strut and wire guard rail. The only wooden trestle railway bridge on a mainline railway in Scotland. Built and retained owing to difficulty of securing foundations
for a steel or masonry bridge."

Unfortunately, the 2003 works inserted a steel bed and a couple of concrete pillars, (and won awards for preserving the historic fabric). I quess the only other options were to completely demolish the old bridge or have everyone on the Inverness to King's Cross train get out and walk (what was that black & white film set in India where they are trying to get a train across a partially blown-up trestle bridge?)

 

[yamin]

Another one for you, where is this?

View attachment 1


And if thats too easy.....................here's a nasty one, clues available!

 

[Schoolmarm]

1. Cannington Viaduct. First concrete viaduct in UK

2. Golders Cottage