Cobbled streets

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

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yen_powell
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by yen_powell »

WHBM wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:27
"Ye see this now, son. Now don't get too close, stand back here, like we're just passing. That deterrent paving has to be laid with the pebbles spiky end upwards, and close together, so ye canna walk across it. He's just layin' them flat, it'll take half the time but that's wrong. Now ye know that letter we all saw, I canna speak to anyone here, I have to write next Monday. Aye, it'll all have tae be drilled up and done again. Aye. Leave him to it, son ...".

And we did.
Nothing funnier than an employee who has been told off and works to rule in the full knowledge he will get his or her own back as a result.

I was told to not get involved with a consultant's traffic calming designs as they were highly paid experts, but even I couldn't let one thing go which I saw during an online meeting the day before construction was due to start. A chicane under a height restricted arched railway bridge that would have sent vehicles that met the signed height under the lower part of the brickwork.
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solocle
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by solocle »

Better image of Gold Hill than GSV:
DB98CAED-F0BE-4C39-9D4E-AF33C0D2707D.jpeg
227F1832-DC24-4B4B-8F09-D3EBB9B41733.jpeg
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Chris Bertram »

Fantastic view of the bike. Shame the hill seems out of focus.
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Alderpoint
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Alderpoint »

solocle wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 22:41 Better image of Gold Hill than GSV:
DB98CAED-F0BE-4C39-9D4E-AF33C0D2707D.jpeg
227F1832-DC24-4B4B-8F09-D3EBB9B41733.jpeg
Bit small and low-res :-)

This one on GSV gives a nice full 360 version.
Let it snow.
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RichardA626
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by RichardA626 »

Anyone humming the New World Symphony!?
Beware of the trickster on the roof
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Lockwood
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Lockwood »

NICK 647063 wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 23:53 I’m not aware of any other cobbled A class roads other than the A684 in Hawes North Yorkshire, do we have any others it always seems unusual.
There's part of the A3 that's cobbled - the very end bit of it.
Portsmouth has some cobbled bits, with tram tracks:
Broad Street (A3)
Old Commercial Road
Rugby Road/Brittania Road North
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Jim606
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Jim606 »

I think we've discussed cobbled roads sometime before i.e. many years ago, but I can't find the tread anywhere?

When I was growing up back in the early 1970s Bridgehouse Road in Haworth (B6142) which leads up from the station to the High Street was also cobbled/surfaced with setts here. I remember it was a difficult to ascend in wet/icy weather. Haworth Main Street is still cobbled/sett and was revamped in 2012 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-17158269
Herned
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Herned »

Ruperts Trooper wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 13:10 The repeated failure of utilities to finish trenches and holes to an acceptable standard is a major hate for me - my health and disability mean that I notice difficulty with every change of level on footpaths and it doesn't make for a smooth ride in the car on the roads either - I guess that cut-backs in highway authorities and local authorities means that less time is spent inspecting work by utilities and less effort in getting rectification work done.
I used to work in an office which was on the edge of the City of London, the road one end of the building was in Islington. There was a very clear difference in the quality of repair work after any utility work, the City roads were always immaculate
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the cheesecake man
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by the cheesecake man »

I'm not sure why Meadow Terrace deserves cobbles.
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Chris5156
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Chris5156 »

the cheesecake man wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 20:50 I'm not sure why Meadow Terrace deserves cobbles.
Isn’t it just an old road that’s always had them?
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the cheesecake man
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by the cheesecake man »

Chris5156 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 00:10
the cheesecake man wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 20:50 I'm not sure why Meadow Terrace deserves cobbles.
Isn’t it just an old road that’s always had them?
It is. Perhaps I should have said "I've no idea why it wasn't tarmaced when all the other roads in the area were."
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KeithW
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by KeithW »

The Newport Vertical Lift bridge across the Tees was built with a hardwood block surface which was in use until the 1970's. It too could be very slippery in wet conditions so the blocks were replaced with an asphalt surface. The counter weights had to be adjusted for the new weight.
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Chris Bertram »

IIRC the Whitney-on-Wye toll bridge is paved with wooden blocks akin to railway sleepers (I e. the full width of the road), but this is probably dragging us off-topic.
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Alderpoint
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Alderpoint »

Chris Bertram wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 07:23 IIRC the Whitney-on-Wye toll bridge is paved with wooden blocks akin to railway sleepers (I e. the full width of the road), but this is probably dragging us off-topic.
As is Aldwark Bridge and Whorlton Bridge (currently closed for major repair). Probably quite a few more too.
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coneman
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by coneman »

https://goo.gl/maps/ZTRqBMrzg8fCBBR49

This is Burns St in Dumfries home of Scotlands national bard and very definitely cobbled or as
we called them "chuckie stanes".
Many a guid tune played on an auld fiddle.
Rob590
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Rob590 »

On cobbled A roads, the A689 in Alston was cobbled until recently - looking at GSV it appears to have been tarmaced at some point between 2016 and 2021.
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AAndy
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by AAndy »

I've just put up a drive through video of the wonderful seaside town of Silloth in Cumbria, with some of the widest and longest cobbled streets I've driven on in the UK.

Its here: https://youtu.be/m1GGo6bDIDY
Glenn A
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Glenn A »

AAndy wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 20:30 I've just put up a drive through video of the wonderful seaside town of Silloth in Cumbria, with some of the widest and longest cobbled streets I've driven on in the UK.

Its here: https://youtu.be/m1GGo6bDIDY
I know Silloth well and nearly all the town centre is cobbled, some of the signage is pre war and there are still a few 1960s street lights with meat pie lanterns. Take the modern cars away and at times, it's like being in the seventies or earlier. Also the drive along the coast from Maryport and onwards to Bowness on Solway is one of the best in good weather.
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AAndy
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by AAndy »

Glenn A wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 20:59
AAndy wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 20:30 I've just put up a drive through video of the wonderful seaside town of Silloth in Cumbria, with some of the widest and longest cobbled streets I've driven on in the UK.

Its here: https://youtu.be/m1GGo6bDIDY
I know Silloth well and nearly all the town centre is cobbled, some of the signage is pre war and there are still a few 1960s street lights with meat pie lanterns. Take the modern cars away and at times, it's like being in the seventies or earlier. Also the drive along the coast from Maryport and onwards to Bowness on Solway is one of the best in good weather.
It is a fantastic area for being in..... and the roads... well Wow! ..... I'm a sucker for roman roads, in Great Britain or abroad....but From Ravenglass up to Bowness & Carlisle most of the countryside roads were laid by the Romans...its brilliant.

Do you think that Silloths' Cobbles are really Setts though?
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Bryn666
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Re: Cobbled streets

Post by Bryn666 »

yen_powell wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 16:42
WHBM wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:27
"Ye see this now, son. Now don't get too close, stand back here, like we're just passing. That deterrent paving has to be laid with the pebbles spiky end upwards, and close together, so ye canna walk across it. He's just layin' them flat, it'll take half the time but that's wrong. Now ye know that letter we all saw, I canna speak to anyone here, I have to write next Monday. Aye, it'll all have tae be drilled up and done again. Aye. Leave him to it, son ...".

And we did.
Nothing funnier than an employee who has been told off and works to rule in the full knowledge he will get his or her own back as a result.

I was told to not get involved with a consultant's traffic calming designs as they were highly paid experts, but even I couldn't let one thing go which I saw during an online meeting the day before construction was due to start. A chicane under a height restricted arched railway bridge that would have sent vehicles that met the signed height under the lower part of the brickwork.
I unfortunately am "that guy" who will rip to shreds a bad design regardless of who did it. I got a serious reprimand in Blackburn for going to the Head of Service with an alternative design for a signal junction because the one they were going to approve lacked any safe pedestrian routes and would've killed drivers as well.

The engineers who'd done the original design were very put out when told to adapt their drawings to meet my alternative and dragged me over the coals for it but at least I was vindicated.

My loyalty is to the safety of the travelling public, not the ego of line management or principal engineers with more letters than ability.
Bryn
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