The absence of old railings is still very noticeable in the UK.
During WW2, there was a genuine shortage of Iron and Steel and the public was asked to donate their scrap, railings, gates, and other bits of metal to help the 'war effort'. The big question is; whatever happened to all that scrap metal?
Looking around me here in Brighton, signs are still everywhere of people's willingness to donate. In the nearby churchyard, where I go every morning, signs are all around of missing railings (below).
Bizarrely, most British Ironworks apparently reported no record of having received any deliveries of scrap.
Conspiracy theories, of course, were widespread, and most claimed that the public response was such that the government was over-run with scrap.
Some say that the stocks were so huge that they needed to be hidden away from public, out of embarrassment; others say that it was sent abroad in the form of 'ship's ballast', probably to West Africa where beautiful British railings can still be seen today outside modest housing. Another more extreme theory claims that most was dumped in The Thames Estuary or the open Sea; simply to get rid of excess stocks.
Whatever the truth of the matter, the scars are still there, and one can but wonder what towns might have looked like had people not replied with such eagerness to the demand for scrap. So much beautiful Victorian (and earlier) Cast and Wrought Iron was never replaced.
That's sad to think about all of that workmanship in wrought iron if it just went to waste. That should not have been considered "scrap metal".
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a lot of it went towards the 'war effort', but it does sound as if the most part was never used.
DeleteNot used because it was the wrong sort of iron....
DeleteNo doubt!
DeleteDumped in the sea, used as shop's ballast, sent to Africa, that's a crying shame. surely they could have returned some or most of the excess? I will never understand governments.
ReplyDeleteTheir eyes were bigger than their stomachs, and couldn't cope (I imagine).
DeleteWhat you describe (donations surplus to requirements) does remind me of charity shops being flooded, after appeals and not least after the first lockdown. I know this from the horse's mouth (British Heart Foundation). What you think might serve a "good" cause (like getting rid of all the tat you yourself don't want any longer) often goes straight into landfill. Even books for crying out loud. Particularly books. Clothes often shipped to Africa. Lucky them to be served with our cast offs!
ReplyDeleteThe world is shite. Do something where and when you can, don't lament unless there is purposeful reason to draw attention to a plight, don't mourn that which is no more (like those railings - ones which still standing, incidentally and just round the corner from where I live, saved me from serious bodily harm when caught, unexpectedly, by gale forces here at the South Coast. I hung on for dear life till rescued. Thank you, Victorians. Damn the wasted war "effort".
U
Your final para could be used as a sermon from the pulpit. Send a copy to the Arch-Bish.
DeleteNaively I had assumed that the railings were melted down and used in the war effort. I ought to have known better. What a crying shame if most of those beautiful reasons were cut down without good reason.
ReplyDeleteWe all thought the same, but I just happened to look into where all those railings etc had gone, and found the sad truth.
DeleteMy understanding is, as gz says, the iron wasn't of suitable quality to make aeroplanes or munitions ot whatever the public were told it would be used for. All over the country there are terraced streets with small front gardens where low walls still show the evidence of railings. There are also old postcards picturing how these streets once looked.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like an excuse. Any decent foundry would soon have the scrap purified, re-worked, and made useful.
DeleteIt was seen as good for public morale in the war effort so encouraged even though much not used. It was dumped.
ReplyDeleteAnd never replaced, which is sad.
DeleteThere are two problems with iron railings. The primary one being their bulk, They have to be crushed to make furness feed, the second is the high carbon content which isn't really a problem as pig iron is also the same at about 4%/5% carbon, it has to have oxygen blown through it to make steel which has a carbon content of 1% or thereabouts. The waste CO and CO2 we will ignore as I don't want the Greenies having an attack of the vapours.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the major foundries wouldn't have found any difficulty dealing with it. It's just that it never reached them.
DeleteIt's not foundries that make steel it's steel works or in olden days iron puddlers.
DeleteUntil the widespread use of hammer mills cast iron was always a pain to reprocess.
Another case (perhaps) of our wonderful, ahem, governments (all parties included) of unable to organise a piss up in a brewery. Although I realise that they were different time it does make one wonder how 'leadership' may continue to be so incompetent decade after decade with no lessons learned.
ReplyDeleteThose at the helm change too often, no-one has the time to learn their 'trade'; everyone's an amateur.
DeleteTruth in that Cro, but one has to question the advisors who unelected remain in the shadows. Perhaps to much advice and vested interest from corporations m'thinks.
DeleteThink Nightingale Hospitals.
DeleteI wonder if tin cans were considered metal work too. It seems like a worthy idea badly executed.
ReplyDeleteI believe they wanted everything from aluminium to tungsten. Silly to throw it away though.
DeleteIron railings are beautiful. It is sad when railings go missing as in the photo you show. They should be replaced.
ReplyDeleteI fear it would be far too expensive. And anyway, it wouldn't be easy to find relatives of the long dead to pay for them!!
DeleteI must say it is refreshing to see you looking round Brighton with a fresh eye.
ReplyDeleteI am loving it. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed everything that it represents. Friends, culture, and that feeling of being 'at home'.
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