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 Tuesday 3.00-3.30 p.m |
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Vanessa Collingridge and the team answer listener’s historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all ‘make’ history. |
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William Walker, the Winchester Diver
Bob Rust of Basildon complained that when Making History visited Winchester in October 2007, we didn’t talk about William Walker the Winchester Diver. Bob heard the story of how Walker worked underneath Winchester Cathedral shoring up the foundations during the war and he asked us to investigate further.
In 1079 the foundations of Winchester Cathedral were placed on a layer of peat on flood meadows. Over the years it turned out that the cathedral’s foundations were flooding and sinking. By the turn of the 20th century the situation had become so severe that the only way to save the cathedral was to remove the complete layer of peat and replace it with concrete.
The space below the cathedral was 3.5 meters high and filled with turbid ground water. A diver had to remove much of the wooden foundation and carry in concrete. That person was William Walker, a diver at the Siebe Gorman company. He thought the job would last a matter of weeks but he was there from 1906 till 1912. Sadly he died during the influenza outbreak at the end of theÌý1st World War.
There is a statue to Walker at Winchester Cathedral.
Making History would like to thank Winchester Cathedral and the Historical Diving Society for their help.
Useful links
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The Duddeston Viaduct
On Christmas Day 2007, Making History featured Brunel’s South Wales Railway to Fishguard. After the programme we were contacted by David Pearson who lives in Birmingham, who told us about the Duddeston Railway Viaduct which spans nearly three quarters of a mile of the area just to the south of the Bull Ring. Built in the 1840’s by the Great Western Railway it has never been used and David wanted to know why it was built and why has it remained redundant.
According to Dr Peter Leather from the University of Birmingham, prior to 1846 the lines from Birmingham to London Euston, to the south, and Manchester and Liverpool, to the north, were controlled by two separate companies. Although, in theory, collaborators, they were constantly manoeuvring for the upper hand. One piece of subterfuge was an attempt to encourage a rival line from London Paddington via Oxford (a route that was eventually taken over by the GWR) – but this backfired.
The move was a ploy to force a merger which promptly came about. However, the Great Western Railway, which had been drawn in as a bargaining counter, decided to adopt a positive role. It took up the offer (hastily withdrawn, but still on record) and received parliamentary permission for a route from Oxford to Birmingham, a cross-city tunnel, a new station at Snow Hill and a further line to Wolverhampton. The, now, merged company – the London and North Western Railway – strove long and hard to buy off what was essentially its own creation. Anything which hinted at an attempt to gain access to New Street was opposed. But, the original and now bitterly regretted offer had included access to a station at Curzon Street on the LNWR line into New Street.
In order to pursue this link, the GWR built what is known as the Duddeston Viaduct, leaving its main line at Bordesley and heading for Curzon Street. The LNWR held its ground at the property boundary and the link was never completed. The viaduct has never been used but remains to this day.
Useful links
For a photograph of the Duddeston Viaduct visitÌý.
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Contact ÌýMaking History |
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Use this link to email Vanessa Collingridge and the team: email Making History
Write to: Making History
´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4
PO Box 3096
Brighton
BN1 1TU
Telephone: 08700 100 400
Making History is produced by Nick Patrick and is a Pier Production. |
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See AlsoThe ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites |
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ´óÏó´«Ã½, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý