Tag Archives: Construction

Nail (Invention)

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Nail (Invention)

Will you nail these facts into your head?

  • A nail is an invention used to secure multiple objects together; or used for ornamental purposes; or to hang items, especially on a wall.
  • Typically, nails are a thin cylindrical shape with a point at one end and a flat head at the other, although some versions are without a head.
  • Hammers are most often used to drive nails into objects, although specially engineered air guns are also used.
  • Nails are secured in objects by the laws of friction, and they can bear a secured object’s force due to their sturdiness.
  • The Ancient Egyptians crafted nails of bronze around 3400 BC, while copper ones were also used in ancient history, and at a later stage they were created from iron.
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  • Originally, nails where individually handmade, generally built from a rectangular iron piece, made by families primarily for themselves and also by blacksmiths for commercial purposes.
  • Attempts to mass produce nails via the use of machines took place from the 1790s, although they only became an efficient, commercially viable option in the late 1800s with the introduction of ones made from wire, rather than ‘cut’ ones made from iron rectangular shaped rods.
  • Various metals can be used to make nails, from bronze, brass, aluminium, iron, and copper, and the steel ‘wire’ method of making them is now the most frequently used material and process.
  • The most commonly available nails range from 1 to 7 millimetres in diameter (0.04 to 0.28 inches) and 2 to 21 centimetres (0.8 to 8.3 inches) in length, and there are a wide variety of different types which are used for various and specific purposes.
  • Nails are extremely popular in the construction of many objects, including wooden houses and frames, which use 20,000 to 30,000 per house.
Bibliography:
Fourshee P, A Two-Bit History of Nails, 1992, Fourshee, http://www.fourshee.com/history_of_nails.htm
Nail, 2015, How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Nail.html
Nail (Fastener), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_(fastener)

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Newgrange

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Newgrange

Newgrange takes prehistoric architecture to a new level.

  • Newgrange, also known as ‘New Grange’, is a monumental structure that was built in ancient times, and is found in Ireland’s County Meath, in Europe.
  • Newgrange is a roundish building in shape, featuring internal chambers and hallways, with an opening on the side that is facing south-east.
  • In 1993, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention listed Newgrange as a World Heritage Site as part of the Brú na Bóinne group.
  • Stone is the primary material used to construct Newgrange, while grass grows on the roof of the structure, and it also includes soil and sand.
  • The height of Newgrange reaches 12 metres (39 feet) and has a diameter of around 80 metres (262 feet).
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Newgrange
Image courtesy of Young Shanahan/Flickr
  • Newgrange was built by a Neolithic community around 3200 to 3100 BC, and it is believed to be older than the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge, that are also renowned for their age and monumental significance.
  • Newgrange is said to be a passage tomb, that has housed the remains of multiple people, while the structure may have also been used for religious purposes.
  • Although abandoned some 1000 years after it was built, Newgrange managed to leave a significant footprint in the myths of Ireland, especially in the time of the Middle Ages.
  • It is considered that Newgrange was first uncovered and entered by people from the modern age in 1699, by workers employed by the owner of the land, Charles Campbell; and this led to the beginning of historical interest, and the site was first investigated by Edward Lhwyd, a Welsh antiquarian.
  • Newgrange is considered an art of architecture, featuring many creative corridors, sculptures and carved stones, as well as a window, known as a ‘roof box’, that lights the inner structure during the Winter Solstice.
Bibliography:
Newgrange, 2010, World Heritage Ireland, http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/

Newgrange, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange
Newgrange – Ireland’s Most Famous Monument, 2015, Mythical Ireland, http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange/

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Bank of England

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Bank of England

The Bank of England is the financial pride of England.

  • The Bank of England is the United Kingdom’s central bank, located on Threadneedle Street, in England’s London, in Europe.
  • The ‘Bank of England’ is officially known as the ‘Governor and Company of the Bank of England’, and it is also informally known as ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’.
  • The Bank of England, as a central bank, is the second oldest on earth, and its framework has been used as guide for nearly all central banks in existence today.
  • In 1694, the Bank of England was founded, using a proposed scheme designed by Scotsman William Paterson, with the support of the first Earl of Halifax, Charles Montagu, and merchant Michael Godfrey.
  • Initially, subscribers provided financial assistance to fund the Bank of England, while the bank provided a loan of 1.2 million pounds (1.8 million US dollars) to the English government, after an economical collapse due to being defeated at the hands of France.
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Bank of England, Lombard Street
Image courtesy of Diliff / Wikimedia Commons
  • The Bank of England originated in Walbrook in London, on a site where the Mithras temple of the Roman ‘God of Contracts’ once stood, and the bank was later relocated to its site on Threadneedle Street in 1734.
  • Money notes began to be distributed by the Bank of England from 1694, originally made by hand, until 1725 when notes started to become printed mechanically.
  • A vault can be found underneath the Bank of England, that houses a store of gold that was worth 156 billion pounds (nearly 240 billion US dollars) in 2012.
  • The currency used by the Bank of England is pound sterling, and the bank had a total reserve of 403 billion pounds (620 billion US dollars) in 2013.
  • The Bank of England premises on Threadneedle Street has been built and rebuilt a number of times over the centuries, while the current bank building was designed by Englishmen Herbert Baker, and was constructed from 1925 to 1939.
Bibliography:
Bank of England, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England
Buildings and Architects, n.d, Bank of England, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/buildings.aspx
History, n.d, Bank of England, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/default.aspx#3

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Bran Castle

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Bran Castle

Bran Castle is a secret residence of the vampires.

  • Bran Castle is a large castle found in central Romania in Europe, along the border of the historic regions of Transylvania and Wallachia.
  • ‘Bran Castle’ is popularly known as ‘Dracula’s Castle’, especially by tourists, and is also known as ‘Bran Fortress’.
  • It is thought that a wooden castle was built on or near the site of the present-day Bran Castle, built by the Teutonic Knights around 1212 and named Dietrichstein, however it is believed to have been destroyed in 1242.
  • Bran Castle is situated on a cliff at an elevation of 762 metres (2500 feet), and is surrounded by valleys and hills and is major tourist destination in Romania.
  • King Louis I of Anjou ordered the original construction of Bran Castle in 1377, which was built by choice by residents from the nearby town of Brașov, at their own expense.
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Bran Castle
Image courtesy of Rob/Flickr
  • Bran Castle was completed by 1382, in record time, and was built for the purpose of defending Transylvania’s border and included a customs station.
  • Bran Castle was popularised by the renowned novel Dracula, which describes a similar residence to Bran Castle for Count Dracula, although further analysis has revealed there a major differences in the descriptions.
  • Queen Marie, the last queen consort of Romania, was quite fond of Bran Castle as a residence, and was given the castle in 1920 by the town of Brașov, and later her daughter Princess Ileana inherited it, however in 1948, it was taken by the communists and eventually made into a museum.
  • In 2015, the owner of Bran Castle was Archduke Dominic of Austria-Tuscany, also known as Dominic von Habsburg and son of Princess Ileana, who acquired the castle in 2006, after the Romanian government gave over the rights of the castle to the traditional owners.
  • Bran Castle has had various owners and caretakers over the centuries, and has been used by royalty and the forestry, among others, and it has also undergone various renovation and restoration projects.
Bibliography:
Bran Castle, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Castle
Medieval Fortress, 2013, Bran Castle, http://www.bran-castle.com/medieval-fortress.html
Morris E, Bran Castle, Romania: In Search of Dracula – and the Buried Heart of a Long-Dead Queen, 2015, Exploring Castles, http://www.exploring-castles.com/bran_castle.html

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Timbuktu

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Timbuktu

Timbuktu is just that place way over there. Where? Somewhere far away.

  • Timbuktu is a city located on the sands of the Sahara Desert in Mali, north-west Africa, and in 2009, it had a population of nearly 54,500 individuals.
  • ‘Tombouctou’ is the French spelling for ‘Timbuktu’, and other spellings have included ‘Timbuktoo’ and ‘Timbuctoo’, and due to the mythical and mysterious way it has been portrayed in literature, many people do not believe the place exists.
  • Timbuktu is a place of cultural and spiritual significance, as it was a popular trading centre for ivory, gold, salt and slaves, as well as a major hub for Islam and education in its peak during the 1400s and 1500s, and during that time it had about 100,000 inhabitants, a quarter of which were students.
  • The UNESCO World Heritage Convention designated Timbuktu as a World Heritage Site in 1988 after originally being turned down in 1979, and it has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger more than once.
  • Evidence of groups of people living in the area of Timbuktu around 400 BC have been discovered, and people settling more permanently in the area was likely to be around the 1100s.

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Part of Timbuktu
Image courtesy of Jeanne Menj/Flickr
  • Timbuktu has been captured and lived in by a variety of people groups, including the Mali from the early 1300s to 1400s, the Songhai from the late 1400s to late 1500s, and the Arma from the early 1600s to 1800s.
  • The French discovered and subsequently conquered Timbuktu in 1893, known primarily as ‘French Sudan’, during the small French invasion, and the city later became independent as part of the Mali community in 1960.
  • Timbuktu is constantly hammered by both extremes of disasters – droughts and floods, which, in combination with other events, has led to the city’s poor nature.
  • Due to Timbuktu’s heritage, it is home to historically important mosques and mausoleums, as well as between 100,000 and 700,000 historic manuscripts.
  • Visitor numbers to Timbuktu have decreased over the years due to a number of terrorist attacks on tourists there in recent times, and the city, including some of its significant monuments have been under threat or destroyed due to religious attacks in the area.
Bibliography:
Timbuktu, 2015, UNESCO World Heritage Convention, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/119
Timbuktu, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu

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Bryggen

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Bryggen

Who would know a wharf like Bryggen would attract such a history?

  • Bryggen is a wharf, as well as a block of buildings that sits adjacent to it, in Norway’s Bergen, in Europe, that has been a major trading point throughout history.
  • ‘Bryggen’ can be translated from Norwegian as ‘the wharf’ and it is also called ‘Tyskebryggen’, meaning ‘German wharf’, in reference to the Germans that originally lived and worked there.
  • The UNESCO World Heritage Convention designated Bryggen as a World Heritage Site in 1979, due to its cultural and historical significance.
  • Bryggen was used as a trade centre from the 1100s, although it was not until the mid 1300s when the Hanseatic League began to expand in the area, that trade began to boom.
  • The buildings located along Bryggen are similar in style, often three storeys tall with a gabled tiled roof and timber cladding.
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Bryggen
Image courtesy of Kamil Porembiński/Flickr
  • Just over 60 historic buildings exist in Bryggen, which equals around 25% of what was initially there, however most of these buildings are not completely original, as many have been rebuilt or restored over the centuries, primarily due to majors fires in 1476, 1702 and 1955, although authentic techniques and materials have been used as much as possible.
  • The mostly wooden buildings of Bryggen can be seen in a variety of colours, such as white, brown, red, mustard and orange, and they were mostly used for storing goods and trading purposes, as well as housing merchants.
  • The buildings that make up the area of Bryggen, include St Mary’s Church which was constructed in the 12th century and is the oldest building in the area; and two museums, one of which is a modern construction built in 1976; while many of the old buildings house restaurants, shops, and workshops for artisans.
  • Over 500 hundred historic runes that refer to or describe the daily life of the residents of Bryggen up until the late 1300s, were discovered during excavations after the major fire in the area in 1955.
  • In 2011, Bryggen was visited by nearly 870,000 tourists, and is among the most popular destinations in the region.
Bibliography:
Bryggen – the historic wharf in Bergen, 2015, Visit Norway, http://www.visitnorway.com/en/where-to-go/fjord-norway/bergen/what-to-do-in-bergen/attractions-in-bergen/bryggen-the-hanseatic-wharf-in-bergen/
Bryggen, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryggen
Bryggen, 2015, UNESCO World Heritage Convention, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/59

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