Monday 24 January 2011

THE DERRICK

THE DERRICK AT PORTLAND BILL
Portland is famous for it's stone which has been used extensively as a building material throughout the British Isles. Buildings that have used the stone include St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.The Cenotaph in Whitehall is also made from Portland Stone.
The stone is also exported to many other countries - for example it was used in the construction of the United Nations Headquarters in New York city in the USA.
The stone is a Limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period.
A few hundred yards from Portland Bill lighthouse (which was shown in a recent posting ) can be found this Derrick. Cut stone slabs used to be transported from this point by sea to various destinations. A Derrick was used to lift the stone on to the sea going barges.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

'The Corner Stone' of and for the world. Impressed. Thank you for sharing this important place. Please have a good Tuesday.


daily athens

Anonymous said...

ByTrevor....Molto iteressante la storia di quella pietra.

ADRIAN said...

It is a beautiful place. Not too many days a year when one would want a barge just off the Bill.

Rich Gift Of Lins said...

These remnants of history are great, though I expect that not many folk who see them are so well informed. Is the derrick just a relic, or is it part of a museum?

TrevorW�� said...

*Robert* *Tony65*
Thanks for your comments -enjoy your Tuesday.

*Adrian*
Your so right. There are some very strong currents around the Bill as well as submerged rocks. You need to be an experienced boatman to come in so close in any conditions.

*Colin*
There is a museum about two miles from the Bill but this Derrick is a reconditioned relic.

Dorota Narwojsz-Szal said...

This has diminished the United Kingdom ;o) Interesting picture, I like it.

Hugs!

k.a. photography said...

A piece of history!
Very good shot!

orso - homine de su marghine.. said...

I understand that, and a very hard stone, but in his day job .. congratulations for the shot of the photo greetings orso..

SKIZO said...

Wonderful
work
thank you for sharing

cloudbusting2 said...

Some guy died there under a heavy rock back in the day. His ghost operates the derrick in windy cold nights. Maybe.

Daliana Pacuraru said...

I thought this image was from Greece!
Wonderful, timeless!
My regards!

TrevorW�� said...

*Dorota* *Andras* *Orso* *SKIZO* *cloudbusting2* *Wind*

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Another Reservoir Structure.

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