July 2024 Picture of the Month

I continue to get drawn in to some fascinating projects, the latest being an exploration of how cast-iron canal and road mileposts, and cast metal railway signs, were made. There is surprisngly little published information on the subject, which makes the project even more interesting as it gets me involved in primary research – something which always gives me a buzz. This signpost on Thomas Telford's Ellesmere Canal at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, which I photographed 20 years ago, may well have been cast by William Hazledine at the famous Plas Kynaston foundry where the ironwork for several of Telford's finest bridges was cast. The oldest cast-iron sign photographed so far dates from 1814 and is fixed to one of the stone towers of Telford's Craigellachie Bridge in Scotland  and that was also made at Plas Kynaston. Contax 645 camera with 35mm Zeiss Distagon lens, Fujichrome colour film.