News
Items always required for Newspage, Newsletter and Website
Email daveksmith@friendsofpurton.org.uk
July 2010
The Friends of Purton are today immensely proud to announce that they are to host a comprehensive exhibition to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Severn and Wye Railway Bridge disaster which took place on the 25th October 1960 and saw the untimely death of 5 men from the John Harker tankers Arkendale H and Wastdale H following of a collision on that fog bound night. Purton site photographer John Daniells is currently putting the finishing touches to the exhibition that is set to open at the Dean Heritage Centre http://deanheritagemuseum.com/events.html on the 16th October 2010 and is therefore most keen to speak to any one who may have information, anecdotes or memories of that fateful night for possible inclusion in the finished exhibition. Furthermore the 'Friends' are particularly interested in making the acquaintance of any surviving relatives of the vessels crews with the view to inviting them to an official opening ceremony at the centre in October. Please contact us on 07833143231 or by writing to 22 Gurney Avenue, Tuffley, Gloucester, GL4 0YL for further details.
June 2010
Friends of Purton honoured at awards
Champaign corks were in abundance at the 4th Annual Pride of Gloucestershire Community awards 2010 following the announcement that the work of the 'Friends' had been formally recognised by the people of Gloucestershire at the recent glitzy award ceremony held in the Star Suite at Kingsholm Rugby Ground. As this years finalists and eventual runners up of the Environmental Hero Category, the hulks were once again thrust into the spotlight during the four hour extravaganza to herald the cream of the Gloucestershire' unsung volunteer hero's. Upon receiving the award, The 'Friends' were said to be elated at the judges decision and were thrilled that the wonderful site continues to touch the life's of so many
Harriett Protected - The process has begun
The Friends are today overjoyed after receiving the fantastic news that as from 9th June 2010 The Kennet built canal boat Harriett has formally been recognised as being of national importance and has in turn been official protected and listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In turn she has rightfully taken her place along side the Mary Rose and HMS Victory and in doing so adding depth and colour to the nations surviving maritime assemblage.
The Friends salute English Heritage in taking this historic step and look forward to forging closure ties over the coming months, in order to assess the Purton Hulks assemblage for future potential designation.
Gloucestershire's Historic Site marked for Posterity
Recent visitors to the rural hamlet of Purton on the eastern shores of the River Severn were today able to learn a little more of the villages hidden past thanks to a joint venture between The Friends of Purton and British Waterways to mark the largest ships graveyard in mainland Britain.
This comes in light of strengthening ties between both parties and the unveiling of two specially commissioned interpretation boards which have been positioned adjacent to the Sharpness to Gloucester Canal in order to mark the boundary of region’s now famous Purton Hulks.
Following the unveiling, Friends Chairman Paul Barnett stated “This continues to be a great day in the efforts to have the regions maritime heritage recognised and he praised British Waterway’s commitment to ensuring the site is properly recognised as an important archaeological site.
May 2010
Several of Purton Hulks to be registered on Historic Ships Register - update and terrific news
Bevis Musk (Friend of Purton) e-mail
'Friends'
As you may know on 4th May I went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to put forward the case for registering the Purton boats as members of the National Historic Ships. Currently the National Historic fleet only numbers some 2400 vessels, National Historic Ships was set up 4 years ago to remove the exclusion of historic vessels from heritage protection legislation for the last 100 years! I am sure as Friends of Purton you will agree that the previous situation was crazy for a nation with such a maritime and waterway trading heritage as Britain to ignore the National Historic fleet.
At the meeting we reviewed the necessary data to register the Purton boats and The Historic Ships staff were most surprised and i
mpressed with the data that we could supply. In fact I was able to give more information than the usual applications, ours was the first application that gave a latitude and longitude for the bow and stern for each vessel! The first vessel to try the data out was the Harriett as she is obviously the most straightforward boat to describe and view (other then the concrete boats of course). Harriett fulfilled all the criteria and I received the certificate yesterday - yippee.Harriett in with her esteemed colleagues
The major debate in Greenwich then ensued regarding the visibility and completeness of the remaining Purton boats to fulfill the application criteria for Historic Ships registration. I had pointed out the obvious argument that the Mary Rose is listed as a National Historic Ship even though she is far from complete. Whilst not wishing to make comparisons between the Purton boats and Tudor warships, the number of visitors to Purton shows how evocative the site is and therefore there is a genuine public interest in knowing what these boats are and what they did, surely National and of genuine historic interest.
Today I had a very satisfying call from Greenwich and was informed that National Historic Ships had acceded to our requests and will now register the Purton boats where 50% of the hull still exists. That amounts to another 11 boats.
I am still pushing to have the entire site registered as it is a special case, but I feel we have made a very good step forward with 12 boats now on the National Historic fleet.
For the first activity weekend on 19/20 June I will have the registration certificates available to display by each boat. I have also encouraged some other Historic vessels to be moored on the canal next to the site so that visitors can see some of the construction methods. I have asked National Historic Ships for literature and display materials to highlight their interest and they have agreed to do this and will also help with further PR.
If anyone requires further information about National Historic Ships their website is www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk or contact me, I have a bit of experience in this area!
Bevis
Several of Purton Hulks to be registered on Historic Ships Register
Great news, the 'Friends' Historic Ship co-ordinator Bevis Musk has secured a meeting in London with the National Historic Ships Register this coming 4th May, in order to secure places for several of Purton’s vessels. The Friends wish him all the best in the task to have several important vessels registered for the nation.
April 2010
Friends join friends at GSIA
Saturday 17th 'Friends' Chairman Paul Barnett took to the stage to address the 41st South Wales & West of England Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference organised by Gloucestershire's Society of Industrial Archaeology. During the prestigious forty minute slot, the work of the 'Friends' and the ongoing campaign to obtain continued protection for the site was explored and debated with a capacity audience.
Friends through to Gloucestershire Environmental Hero finals
We are today celebrating selection through to the final rounds of the Environmental Hero category of the annual Heritage Hero Award run by Gloucestershire Media via its regional newspapers, The Gloucestershire Citizen, Gloucestershire Echo and The Forester.
Phase One down Two to go
T
he Friends are proud to announce that 36 Phase One Vessel Document and Finding Reports have now been finalised and are soon to be made publicly available via the new formed Archaeological Page of this website. A combination of many man hours under the expert guidance of our esteemed resident Archaeologist Neil Baker, the documents effectively catalogue a historical overview of each of the 36 Purton Hulks whilst ensuring a permanent archaeological record of the site is secured for future generations. To this end, The 'Friends' would like to offer their sincere thanks to all who took part in this mammoth task with special thanks going to Neil for his enthusiasm and professional approach to this vital task.
The Severn Bridge Disaster on track for major county exhibition
Site photographer and exhibition co-ordinater, John Daniell is currently putting the finishing touches to what is being hailed as the definitive memorial to long since forgotten piece of Gloucestershire history that is to go on release at the Dean Heritage Centre. October 25th 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the collision and eventual destruction of the Severn and Wye Railway bridge from Sharpness to Lydney by John Harker Tankers Wastdale H and the Arkendale H. In conjunction to this, the 'Friends' have also secured funding and the priceless services of Forest Stonemason Mike Damsell of Bream, who has freely offered his services to produce two distinct memorials that are to be placed at Purton East and Lydney Dock.The Friends would like to personally thank both Mike and his son Martyn for this fantastic gesture and advise that the project is on schedule for completion, dependant on obtaining English Heritage consent.
Robert Millar of the Environment Agency issued the following statement 'As managers of the Lydney site, we would wish to support the 'Friends' initiative, not only do we not have any objections but wholeheartedly welcome their proposals'
John would like to issue a request to any individual that may have personal recollection or anecdotes of the event which should be forwarded direct to john.daniell@virgin.net
March 2010
Country file revisited ... again
BBC Countryfile acknowledge Harriett scheduling
A small yet significant step forward
The 'Friends' efforts have at last been recognised and the Harriett 
is to be formally scheduled and therefore protected by the full force of British Law. A momentous step forward, but merely the beginning of ensuring adequate protection is afforded to the site's historic assemblage of maritime heritage as a whole. The 'Friends' would like to thank both The Right Honourable Margaret Hodge Minister for Culture, Media & Sport and David Drew for their valued help, support and guidance.
For more information regarding scheduling click here
Country file revisited
BBC Countryfile will once again feature the Purton Hulks. Due, we understand, to be screened Sunday 14th March. The 6 minute slot will feature some of the work being undertaken by the 'Friends' in their determination to preserve the hulks through documentation.
February 2010
Right to the top
The 'Friends' take their campaign for site protection right to the top, with an invitation to attend a round table debate at Westminster to be Chaired by the Right Honourable Margaret Hodge, Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport. Also in attendance will be Mr David Drew MP for Stroud, representatives from English Heritage, NAS, British Waterways and other interested parties. A full report will follow the meeting on 3rd March.
January 2010
On the road again
On our travels again, this time to Plymouth and the 28th Shipwreck conference organised by International Marine Archaeology & Shipwreck Society. As well as an interesting day of talks and presentations from prominent guest speakers, the 'Friends' put on an exhibition of our own project. This proved popular with delegates and again helped to increase the profile and awareness of the site amongst the Marine Archeaology community, with many keen to visit in the near future.
We would like to congratulate IMASS on a well organised and most informative event.