The History of Scaffolding (2 Viewers)

Below is a contemporary report of a Scaffold collapse at Crystal Palace in 1853:


On the afternoon of Thursday 18th August 1853 over a thousand mourners gathered in the nave of the partially completed Crystal Palace, on Sydenham Hill. As the clock struck three a procession formed and began the journey down Westwood Hill (then West Hill) to St Bartholomew's Church.

They were paying their last respects to eight men who, with four others, had died while working on the construction of the new Crystal Palace. The men were killed when scaffolding upon which they were working collapsed. Their funeral was conducted "in a very impressive manner" by the incumbent of St Bartholomew's, the Reverend Charles English.


Nearly two years earlier, in October 1851, the "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations" had closed. The exhibition had been held in a wonderful building in Hyde Park, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and dubbed by Punch "the Crystal Palace". The building was due for demolition and a new site was desperately sought. Eventually a perfect spot was found, on the summit of Sydenham Hill. The erection of a much larger Crystal Palace began on 5th August 1852.


The rebuilding progressed speedily and within a year much of the structure was in place. By August 1853 work was starting on the arched roof of the great central transept, to become perhaps the most easily recognisable feature of the completed building. This transept, which crossed the central part of the main building, was 384 feet long by 120 feet wide and 208 feet high and had to be spanned by a great arched roof. The builders had to construct a series of temporary trusses to support the arches over which the glazed roof would be built. The trusses were made in situ, 170 feet above the ground, on scaffolding that was supported not on the ground but on already constructed galleries around the central transept.


At about 2 p.m. on Monday 15th August 1853 Mr Chamberlain, a medical man, was walking down Anerley Hill. He heard a sharp noise "like the falling of a plank". He then heard "a loud crack" and saw a large part of the scaffolding in the central transept give way. There was "a great cry followed by a tremendous crash" and he saw (in an unfortunate but graphic phrase) "workmen dropping like partridges". Mr Chamberlain hurried to the central transept where he saw, amongst the debris of the fallen scaffolding, "sixteen or seventeen workmen, dead and dying". In fact, twelve men died, five were injured and one, amazingly, survived quite unhurt. The precise cause of the accident was never determined, and the coroner's inquest was unable to apportion blame. However Messers Fox & Henderson, the building contractors, decided that future scaffolding would be built from the ground rather than from the galleries.


The Times reported that the accident was: "...an example of the risks to which the working classes are exposed in the course of their employment... The character of the building in which the accident occurred and the favour in which it is regarded by the public insure for this melancholy event an unusual degree of sympathy. These men have perished while engaged upon the construction of a building unparalleled for its magnitude, for the originality of everything connected with it, for its social objects, and for the manner in which it is to be carried out... How little will these [men] be remembered bye and bye when the people are in full enjoyment of their Palace and everything but its transcendent splendour is forgotten".


But these men are remembered, and the Crystal Palace itself has gone. Ten of the dead share a grave, 16 feet deep, in St Bartholomew's churchyard. Their grave is marked by a large flat stone surrounded by a low railing to the right of the middle path, from Westwood Hill to the south porch. It is shaded by a yew tree. Although the inscription is now barely legible those buried in this grave were: James Wardlow, Joseph Copping, George Rolph Smith, George Topham, William Hardy, John Foreman, William James, Henry Fielding, Henry Reading and William Harris. The last two died in Guy's Hospital and were buried in the grave on the following day, 19th August 1853.


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Who Invented the Ladder ?

I was told many moon's ago that, leonardo da vinci invented the Ladder as a MiltaryWeapon, he had been employed by a feuding Spanish family, that needed to take a castle, and needed means of access over the battlements.
 
EEEm the name of the inventor of the Ladder may well be lost in the mists of time---there are many refferances to Ladders in Ancient Texts---however, I susspect that Divinci had a hand in Designing the Skaffnaut ( Mobile Tower ).
 
Sgb ??
 

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"when i said knock that job down that's not what i meant "!!!!!
 

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Sgb ??

Redviking

Great images of chinees cheques, Captain Cooks for the Bracing and Maggie Esson's ( the oval hole ) on the back of the Band. Thata the way I remember that the Scaffolds were erected pre-HASAWA :eek:

---------- Post added at 09:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 PM ----------

Aye, its all coming back to me now the 1/2 " and 7/16 " Keys---feck sake Man, happy days :cool:
 
on the lash

Dont know why the Scaffs still on the Job---its just gone opening time :eek:

Should be on the lash :nuts:

Great images Redviking :cool:
 
goole water tower

have a look at goole water tower on you tube
 
St.Pauls
 

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"when i said knock that job down that's not what i meant "!!!!!

Thanks for posting some great images RedViking...........in those days you could either do it or you couldn't................and no Namby Pamby Red Tape and Form Filling....:rolleyes:

---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 AM ----------


That's interesting, I haven't seen these for years................the year was 1967 and St.Pauls was scaffolded by Big Ben Scaffolding (later taken over by UBM).

I was working for Big Ben at that time but didn't go on that job because I had the Cradle Gang..........and much preferred the freedom that went with it.

Big Ben was a great firm to work for.....the only drawback being their Doubles.......anyone who has used them will know what I mean
 
big ben duobles

Charlie, did you mean the cruciform doubles where the bolt fell down and you couldn't get the ledger in or the exhibition double where the bolt screwed into the body of the double and only had a shallow bolt head so your spanner kept falling off. i've still got my original big ben flat spanner the replicas just dont have the feel or the balance of the originals.ps if you want to find one look at old acrow props the handles are the same they just have to have the hole welded up and redrilled at 90 degrees. Also did you use their steel tie we used to call it slaters needle but i've no idea why
 
Charlie, did you mean the cruciform doubles where the bolt fell down and you couldn't get the ledger in or the exhibition double where the bolt screwed into the body of the double and only had a shallow bolt head so your spanner kept falling off. i've still got my original big ben flat spanner the replicas just dont have the feel or the balance of the originals.ps if you want to find one look at old acrow props the handles are the same they just have to have the hole welded up and redrilled at 90 degrees. Also did you use their steel tie we used to call it slaters needle but i've no idea why

Yes, I was thinking of the regular Drop Forged 7/16 Double where the Bolt screwed into the body..........that Nut was so shallow the Spanner was always flying off...:eek:

The bigger, older Doubles that they had we called Bombs and a lot of those had a Dropped Gate. A useful fitting that I think was unique to Big Ben was the Parallel Coupler.....used to Lap (Splice) tubes together in the same way as you would with a Band and Plate.

They also had an unusual Single, the Wrapover.......this would only go on if you were fixing two tubes together.........as opposed to the modern Half Wrap, whereby you can attach it to a single tube, for Toe Boards etc.....

They had their own Fabrication Shop in the Big Ben Yard and the huge Beams that tied the top of the Scaffold together on the top of St.Pauls were designed and made there. They also made the Spanner Handles there........I lost my own flat handled spanner many moons ago.
 
charlie i NEEEED an origanal big ben handle thin flat or round !!

Wish I could help you mate.............as I said, I lost mine quite a while ago...........The handle was great, but the box was only really suitable for the Big Ben fittings and those where the bolt wasn't very long.

I started to notice after a while that newer fittings were getting longer bolts.........I did have one of the round handles too, but drilled out part of the ball on the top to accommodate the longer bolts.........'course the worst ever was the SGB Swivel :blink:.........Bolt About a Foot Long......:eek:
 
i read with intrest this thread about big ben,i work for big ben scaffolding (north west)been there seven years,and in that time have come across some of the bigben fittings,i will post pics soon.
 
didnt they make them funny wrapovers ?? , i remember old boy scaffs having big ben spanners when i started in 92 , i see that leachs use the big ben name now on there over priced products xx
 
Yes, I was thinking of the regular Drop Forged 7/16 Double where the Bolt screwed into the body..........that Nut was so shallow the Spanner was always flying off...:eek:

The bigger, older Doubles that they had we called Bombs and a lot of those had a Dropped Gate. A useful fitting that I think was unique to Big Ben was the Parallel Coupler.....used to Lap (Splice) tubes together in the same way as you would with a Band and Plate.

They also had an unusual Single, the Wrapover.......this would only go on if you were fixing two tubes together.........as opposed to the modern Half Wrap, whereby you can attach it to a single tube, for Toe Boards etc.....

They had their own Fabrication Shop in the Big Ben Yard and the huge Beams that tied the top of the Scaffold together on the top of St.Pauls were designed and made there. They also made the Spanner Handles there........I lost my own flat handled spanner many moons ago.

seen this and thought of you :blink1:
 

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Interesting pics again RedViking........thanks mate :bigsmile:

These photos are from the early fifties when the Big Ben Clocktower was scaffolded and you can clearly see the old Big Ben Bombs......the huge Doubles they used at that time.

Strangely enough the firm was called Steel Scaffolding when that job was contracted but afterwards they changed the name to Big Ben Scaffolding.
 
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