Standing outside primary schools in The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, you will often see figures like the one shown above, outside Ravenfield Primary School In fact, fifty yards further along the road there's a similar figure - a girl in a red cardigan. I believe the point of these strange dummies is to send out an alert to passing drivers - Slow down, you are passing a school! I have never seen such figures outside any Sheffield schools.
This blogpost is supplementary to the one I published on Friday night about my trip to Conisbrough. Specially for Andrew in Melbourne who is keenly interested in transport matters, here's a photograph of Conisbrough Viaduct as I approached it alongside The River Don.
I have discovered that the railway viaduct was officially opened in 1909 and that over fifteen million bricks were used in its construction. Wow!
I must apologise to Meike in Ludwigsburg who noticed my mis-spelling of Sprotbrough on Saturday. The suffixes "-brough" and "-borough" can be quite confusing when it comes to English place names. In Yorkshire, we have a famous seaside resort called Scarborough but also a former steel town named Middlesbrough and close to Conisbrough there's a small former mining town called Mexborough. We have a town called Boroughbridge but also a large village called Brough. No wonder people get mixed up! By the way, "brough" and "borough" both mean "a fortified settlement" just like the suffix "burg" in German place names - hence Ludwigsburg and Magdeburg.
And that's all I have to say this Sunday evening as midnight approaches. No doubt I will be back tomorrow some time. Watch this space!
The two near my daughter's house have tiny painted tears running down their cheeks.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are freezing cold. Perhaps your daughter could knit them scarves.
DeleteOkay then on and on! Sometimes the simplest things in language need explaining...at least to me some explaining is necessary...like the endings of some place names.
ReplyDelete"Esk" means "abounding in fish". That is why we have three rivers with that name in Britain.
DeleteAs always, I love the scenery, but those statues are a great idea to have set out near a school; a constant reminder.
ReplyDeleteIt would be better if they had loudspeakers too: "SLOW DOWN DICK DASTARDLY!"
DeleteThanks for the photos, especially the distant shot that gives an idea of the height.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the difference between berg and burg is that one is a valley and the other a hill.
I believe that "berg" does relate to lofty places. Hence I guess - Heidelberg.
DeleteBerg is literally mount or mountain. A valley would be a Tal in German. Burg is a castle. Ludwigsburg (my hometown) never really was or had a castle, but a palace, and it was sort of fortified in that it had a wall and guarded gates around its original perimeter for a few decades. The gate houses still exist, but of the wall, only fragments remain.
DeleteThanks for that extra information Professor Riley.
DeleteFifteen million bricks. It would be alright if you were a bricklayer and got paid by the brick.
ReplyDeleteI bet men died building that structure but there are no memorial plaques.
DeleteThat's a lovely view from the top of the viaduct.
ReplyDeleteAn unusual viewpoint - that's for sure River.
DeleteNot sure what to make of the figure of the "child" in the first photo - it looks slightly eerie and vaguely threatening. Do people actually understand the significance, or just drive past at their usual pace.
ReplyDeleteInteresting history of the boroughs and broughs - not something I've given thought to before.
A pleasant tranquil scene in the last photo.
The children do look eerie. They are all painted differently - a kind of accidental art.
DeleteHe's not very lifelike is he? We have PC Flat here, a life-size cardboard speed check policeman training his speed gun on passing motorists. He has been made in such a way that he does seem to be tracking your movement as you approach. He doesn't say much though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what his salary is - standing out there in all weathers.
DeleteWhy not Sheffield? I daren't say they have enough dummies there already, so I'll say the real reason is that in Sheffield they have much better drivers.
ReplyDeleteIn Sheffield the council prefer to invest in real schoolchildren, not models of children
DeleteThose viaducts always amaze me and make me marvel at how clever the architects and builders were. How they designed them so they wouldn't collapse and often take the weight of trains overhead. It's the same with arches in churches.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant people with engineering instincts.
DeleteThe viaduct photos are beautiful! It is the kind of place I like, both for its aesthetic quality as for its history and fascinating facts (such as the millions of bricks - mind-blowing, really!).
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the children sculptures look more schoolsy wearing school uniforms?
If I had the time and inclination I would drive around Rotherham taking pictures of all those dummy children. It is a kind of accidental art.
DeleteI remember when the police would not come to the village to speed check, so someone thought of standing outside with a hairdryer. ;) It is a good thing we have postal codes now to work out the various and similar village names in the country.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the sound of hairdryers so the sight of someone holding one would probably make me speed up.
DeleteI like the idea of those dummies and wish they would do something similar here.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Donald Trump and his family could do that job.
DeleteThat's a pretty distinct way to alert traffic to slow down.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen it anywhere else - just in the Rotherham area. I guess the town councillors have shares in the dummy kid company.
DeleteI enjoyed the info and photos of the viaduct. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteMy last name is DeBerge and family legend says my ex's family came from the Alsace-Lorraine area so I guess I am Ellen "the Mountain"! :)
Ellen The Mountain? Eat less pancakes dearheart!
DeleteOr maybe it is Ellen "of the mountain"! That sounds better! I am not so large!
DeleteYou mean like Heidi in the Swiss story of that name?
DeleteI imagine the dummies catch the eye of drivers. It's not a bad idea really.
ReplyDeleteBetter not to drive into one of those dummy kids. They are secured to immobile concrete posts.
DeleteThose little figures of the children are pretty weird! I've never seen that anywhere else in England.
ReplyDelete