I seem to have a bit of a theme going here… I posted yesterday about some old cottages in Salisbury, and today I’m looking at a picture I took earlier this year from the decks of the S.S.Great Britain. The photo looks across the water of the Floating Harbour to the new developments on its banks. By the way, the Floating Harbour doesn’t itself float, it allows the ships and vessels to more there and keep floating when the tide goes out!
Th Great Britain was the first iron clad ship and it was designed by that amazing Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. She was fitted with a thousand horse-power engine, powered by steam and was the most powerful ship that had ever put to sea at that time. Brunel’s innovation didn’t stop there; he had a screw propeller fitted as opposed to the usual paddle wheels. This was a huge leap forward in maritime technology.Eventually this amazing ship was abandoned and left to rot in the Falkland islands, before being towed back to her home of Bristol and being repaired, refitted restored.
Looking across the Floating Harbour there were the old stone warehouses that Brunel would have seen… being renovated now as new executive offices and dwellings; they nestle among the old pubs and buildings of Welsh Back, and the monster high-rise gleaming steel and glass buildings being constructed all around. The old, and the new…
Lois Elsden 