iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ed Farrell

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Sir Ian McKellen orates 'The Stranger's Case' from 'Sir Thomas More' by Shakespeare about the Evil May Day xenophobic riot of 1517 in London. This passage was written 400 years ago, but times never change. Humanity refuses to change its unwarranted bias against 'others'.

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Reposted by Ed Farrell

Brian Bilston @brianbilston.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Today is World Refugee Day. Here’s a poem called ‘Refugees’.

Refugees

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)

Brian Bilston

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thanks for this Vrs. So, the Mulberry was owned by BB's uncle William Preeson and BB captained it 1696-1701. It was presumably a min of 20 years old when it left the Old Dock.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Always welcome Vrs, never nitpicking, consistently incisive. The objective is to create an image that gets close to the truth. Its part of the team process that results eventually in good historical accuracy and thats what is important here.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

New recon; Mulberry/Mulbery ship in Old Dock 1715. Popularly thought 1st ship in and out of dock (see Nicholas Blundell diary). Based on a sketch by Bryan Blundell - who was master [at some point to be conf]. Assumed owner Alderman Preeson - named by Blundell in sketch. Some speculation in detail.

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Reposted by Ed Farrell

Solidarity RPM @solidarityrpm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Farewell, Yayoi Kusama. x

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Reposted by Ed Farrell

The Railway Heritage Trust @railwayheritage.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Always a pleasure to visit Edge Hill cutting with @lmrailway.bsky.social, Liverpool City Council & @networkrail.bsky.social to discuss de-vegetation - I learn something new every time, & notice something different - today it was a date carving from 1846. A very special & surprisingly tranquil place.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Painting of Francis Doyle's Royal Insurance building in 1903. (corner Dale Street/North John St). Monolithic neo-baroque (the pomp of imperial Edwardian Britain). Significantly it was probably the 1st building in Britain to use a steel frame - a breakthrough tech that enabled monolithic skyscrapers.

A landscape painting. A birds eye view of a substantial Edwardian Building with many floors, roof dormers and a tower topped with a gold dome. Surrounding buildings like warehouses and hotels are also shown with people, horses and carts in the street

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Reposted by Ed Farrell

Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

🧵Yesterday, saw the reopening of Hull Maritime Museum which has been closed since January 2020 for a multi million pound refurbishment. See the queues of people in the first photo for this ticket only event. Situated in Queen Victoria Square it was built as the dock offices for the Hull Dock /1

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

An early analysis of the impacts of American architectural styles on Liverpool's business district buildings in the early 20th century. Part of an introduction to a forthcoming article that will illustrate and detail the buildings involved in this summary. Early days, glad of comments etc.

A drawing of the Liverpool Business district showing - in the main - those buildings influenced by American styles of architecture. Associated text explains the buildings including dates and architects,

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Hi Vrs! Great stuff as always. OS has the title south of the line but building right (and others) show station is N ( and sun is south too!)

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Re previous posts - draft of the proposed Liverpool & Manchester Railway panorama - c. 1835. About three miles worth of the 30 odd mile journey with some infographics. Around half way at the Sankey viaduct. Feasibility and scale (ultimately 5 metres worth) are still the main issues.

A drawing. Landscape showing part of a railway journey in 1835. Featuring rural fields, towns, bridges and stations etc. with explanatory panels

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Haha! I'm guessing the Daintry's were super posh so would probably have travelled in their own carriage as in this painting by Isaac Shaw.

An extract from an 1831 painting showing a red railway carriage and a road carriage mounted on a wheeled platform - both with passengers in dress of that period.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Hi Urs! Ta! I'll write to catch up. Yes, mail coaches were 1st class and apparently a shilling more (7s initially)than the 1st class yellow coaches. Mail coaches are said to be 'four inside' (3 compartments per carriage - 12 in total) as opposed to six inside for yellow coaches (ditto 18).

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Sketch of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's bridge 41; Withington's Bridge (Henry Booth listing) c. 1835

A drawing of a brick bridge in a rural setting with a nineteenth century steam train and carriages passing overhead

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

In a couple of years, Naysmith Gaskell and Company's massive Bridgewater foundry will dominate the scene.

An engraving of the Bridgewater Foundry adjacent to a railway line and canal bridge; showing chimneys. multi story buildings and passing trains

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A preliminary pencil sketch of the Liverpool and Manchester Raiilway bridge over the Bridgewater canal, Patricroft in c. 1835. A first class train with mail carriage behind heads towards Liverpool. The drawing is part of a 5 metre panorama of the entire line currently underway.

A drawing of the bridge over the Bridgewater canal 1835. It shows the yellow and red carriages of a steam train passing over with foreground canal barges, carts, horses; behind are rural fields and a cloudy sky.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I used to myself! Amazing, and hope they are all ok Urs.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

True that! Congratulations you two Urs. 💫

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Beautiful Urs. A testimony to your dedication and skill...

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Trying to sort bridges for the panorama project. Telford suggests an unlisted bridge at Thomas Lane Broadgreen. Usual problem of different naming conventions and do they line up (using Thomas lane to Childwall Lane as test)?? Does OS show a level crossing? A very esoteric discussion board, I know

Two maps which show the Liverpool to Manchester Railway Line in the 1830s/1840s. A comparison designed to demonstrate the existence of a specific bridge (or not!)

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

2. Court housing on the - opposite - north side of the street apparently demolished for the station (similar figures I guess) probably just intensifying overcrowding elsewhere. The public narrative and philosophies - anti-working class and criminalised poor - controlled by the establishment.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

1. Re; recent reconstruction of Wapping Railway station. Next door in Crosbie St. an appalling run of court houses (see also earlier illustration of Vauxhall). Together, a very small part of Liverpool's Victorian 'lethal city'. Completely unimaginable cruelty, deliberately inflicted.

A discussion piece. Two paintings of court housing for poor folk in nineteenth century Liverpool (Vauxhall and Crosbie Street) with details of severe deprivation

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Hahaha! It was pretty obvious.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Hi Urs, thanks! I plumped for autumn 1831 - but now realise that the title therefore has to change to the 5 p.m. from Liverpool - let's have it right! Yes, and Knotty Ash barely perceptible in the distance.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

The 4.30 from Liverpool (the Liverpool & Manchester Railway). The Rocket and first class carriages, passing Broad Green and Thingwall Hall; with the sun setting on the old - now divided - agrarian landscape.

An illustration depicting the rocket locomotive pulling yellow first class carriages along an embankment. The scene shows a rural landscape and in the foreground a farmhouse and farmer with a field access tunnel underneath the embankment

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Thanks very much R for your kind comment and for this v interesting piece of the town's history.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Great Paul. This is a really excellent resource.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Thanks @vrsimility.bsky.social for comment and excellent blog on the subject. Re the 1830 warehouse - revision certainly, but discussion board attached.

A panel designed to aid discussion about how a Wapping warehouse (Liverpool docks)looked in 1835 with photos, a drawing and maps to underpin the discussion.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Hi Mark. Ta. Yes, I did the walk to see if any of the handful of remaining warehouses might be survivors: but think they all postdate. The 1857 listed warehouse in Bridgewater st seems closest

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Explanatory key for the Wapping Goods Station reconstruction - see previous post.

An aeriel painting of Wapping Railway station Liverpool as it would have looked in 1835 showing surrounding buildings and Queen's dock. Indicators on the picture explain locations and businesses (eg timberyards, rope works etc.)

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

This blog is great stuff Vrs!! Couldn't get to it directly (error) not sure how I did!

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Hi Vrs! Thanks. Er....good spot. (and not the only thing as usual!) I originally thought the extension was the long run north and the west bit is actually the original end - skylights added later. Admit forgot to check this including map compares & wonder if those earlier photos show any survivors??

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Wapping goods station off park Lane, 1835. Queens dock and the vibrant, diverse 'sailortown' behind. The station is in a cutting to access the tunnel - top left- from to Edge Hill 1 mile plus away. No locomotives in the town; trains ran by gravity to the dock - cable (steam engine driven) back.

A painting showing an aeriel view of Wapping goods station, Liverpool, as it would have looked in 1835. Showing the railway, trains, station buildings, a part of Queens dock (with sailing boats) many warehouses, horses and carts and a busy surrounding port town.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Hi Vrs! Thank you. I know! And I am also still working on the fascinating subject of coal drops. I suppose there will always be some unresolved elements. Currently working on a first v of Wapping goods station (on the way in due course); with plenty of scope for the unresolved!

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Thanks for your kind comment Tom

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Manchester Liverpool Road station - version 4; numerous corrections and addition of roof over passenger departures (almost imperceptible) thanks Ant D and Vrs.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Delighted to have made the front cover of the Liverpool History Society Journal 2026. Showing my reconstruction.of 1868 Lime Street (part of an illustrated journal article.). Thanks to all at LHS.

Showing the Li erpool History Society Journal 2026 front cover showing a reconstruction painting of Lime Street Station in 1868

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Looks like it. Its in a declivity between cuttings

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Is this another field bridge after W2? Telford identifies it as such with legend 'road at Ropers Farm'

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Haha! I thought the issue was that on the 1850 OS map there is - west to east - a level crossing, two wooden (foot) bridges and Whiston 2 but no Whiston 1.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Its just he seems to have the W1 roadway as 15 yards wide

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Sorry Vrs, me too. Didn't realise it was in his book! I have it as a random extract.

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Is the bridge list I'm referring to actually Booth's list?

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

which did away with the horribly tight level crossing

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Ed Farrell @edfarrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

so today's bridge replaced it when they built the colliery branch

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