Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Blog

The Sound of the Singing Sands: Part 1

Inspired by a collection of ‘Singing Sand’ samples in the Great North Museum: Hancock rock collection and accounts of earlier research, I’ve been given the opportunity to dig a little deeper and visit some local beaches where the sand has been reported to sing.

Much of what has been written on the subject of musical sands describes the sounds that occasionally emanate from sand dunes. An account of booming dunes in the Great Desert of Arabia published in 1947 describes them as having: ‘a deep musical booming sound’, which was often triggered by a group or individual walking across the dunes.

Image: Sahara Booming Sand. NEWHM : 2005.H1192

In contrast, the singing of beach sands has been likened to whistling or squeaking. The singing sands at Camas Sgiotaig near Cleadale on Eigg are well-known. Hugh Miller (stonemason, geologist, author and editor), is credited with their discovery during a visit in 1844. Miller observed that when striking the sand obliquely with his foot, the resulting sound was ‘a shrill, sonorous note’. A full account of his visit to Eigg is recorded in The Cruise of the Betsey, published posthumously in 1858.

Image: The Cruise of the Betsy. Great North Museum: Hancock Library

In 1887 during the first lecture of the season ‘Grains of Sand’ to the Bournemouth Society for Natural Science, Cecil Carus-Wilson described the discovery of ‘musical’ sand on the beach at a spot between Studland Bay and Poole Harbour in Dorset, which ‘gives out a distinct note when walked upon or agitated by the hand or a stick.’ In his November 1888 lecture, he stated ‘This sample here is musical sand from Studland Bay. You will doubtless be disappointed to find that our local sounding sand cannot compete with the Eigg sand in point of musical attainments.’ At that time he was not aware of other singing sand deposits in Europe, but received a number of notifications regarding occurrences of musical sands (for example, at Arneil Bay in Ayrshire), following the publication of a letter in Nature (1888), entitled ‘Sonorous Sand in Dorsetshire’.

Image: Eigg beach sand. NEWHM : 2005.H1341

Closer to home Dr. J. Carrick Murray (in Tomlinson’s Guide to Northumberland 1888) writes:

‘Singing sands are to be found at Whitley, on the way to St. Mary’s Island. This sound is not musical, but rather a harsh whirring, or as Miller, in his Cruise of the Betsy, calls it, a ‘woo, woo, woo’. It is most marked when walking over, or rather through, the high dry oolitic sand beyond the slipping stones at the Briar Dene, just below where the volunteers encamp’.

Local research during the 1960s pinpointed several sites along the Northumberland coast where the sand has been reported to sing, including locations near Seaton Sluice and Blyth where it was observed that the sand ‘sang on the beach’. This project involved the acquisition of more than 150 sand samples, both local and worldwide, which are housed in the Natural History Society of Northumbria petrology collection.

Image: Blyth A ‘sang on beach’. NEWHM : 2005.H1336

In 1973, Ridgeway and Scotton found ‘whistling sand’ at 33 places in Britain, including Bamburgh and Cullercoats in Northumberland, as a result of personal investigation and letters received. They were reasonably confident that their list was complete, having taken the trouble to investigate beaches adjacent to any that they knew to ‘whistle’.

Image: Bamburgh, Northumberland

The next stage of the project involves visiting local beaches where the sand has previously been found to sing. Working with Tim Shaw of Newcastle University who has the expertise to record the sound of the singing sands, this will be an interesting opportunity to explore the possibility of experiencing this curious phenomenon.

To be continued…

Thank you to John Cresswell of Bournemouth Natural Science Society for information pertaining to the singing sand research of Cecil Carus-Wilson.

Selected References

Cruise of the Betsey. H. Miller 1858
“Musical sand” C. Carus-Wilson. Bournemouth Soc. Nat. Sci. 2 (1888): 1-20.
Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland. W.W. Tomlinson 1888.
Mystery of Singing Sands. E.R. Yarham. Natural History Magazine 1947.
MUSICAL SAND Part 1 The Singing Sands of the Seashore. A.E. Brown, W.A. Campbell, D.A. Robson and E.R. Thomas. Proceedings of the University of Durham Philosophical Society. 1961.
Whistling Sand Beaches in the British Isles. K. Ridgeway and J.B. Scotton. Nature Vol. 238 1972.

‘Vote Leave’ campaign to remain in the South Shields Museum & Art Gallery collection – A guest post by work placement student Ellen Mackenzie

Collections & Objects Discovery Museum Local History South Shields Museum & Art Gallery The Archives
Posted by administrator on September 25, 2017 Permalink Comments (2)

EU Flag from the Discovery Museum collections

On 23 June 2016, the people of the UK swarmed to polling stations to cast their vote on the future of the UK within the European Union. The turn out to polls was incredibly high with 72.2% of the population voting, perhaps as a result of the ubiquitous ‘Brexit’ media coverage in the months leading up to the referendum. The decision was made with 51.9% of votes, that the UK would leave the EU.

The North East region voted in favour of leaving, and had one of the highest proportions of leave votes in the country with a 58% majority. Within this, South Tyneside voted to leave by 62%. As a means of recording this momentous event, I have been helping South Shields Museum & Art Gallery to accession into their collections a selection of ephemera that was distributed in Tyne & Wear in the lead up to the referendum.

Badges now in the South Shields collection from the ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ and ‘Vote Leave’ campaigns.

The prevalence of the referendum in South Shields was visible on King Street as this ‘Vote Leave’ banner was found hanging on a wall by the Metro.

Vote Leave Banner found hanging on King Street, in South Shields collection

The banner was found by Adam Bell, History Keeper at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, who recognised the opportunity to take the banner into the South Shields collection.

The items that have been collected also consist of many leaflets that Adam received by campaigners on the street, or in the post at his home address in South Shields. Bell received leaflets from the two official campaigns set up for the referendum, ‘Vote Leave’ and ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’, in addition to leaflets issued by organisations endorsing the leave vote such as UKIP, and organisations endorsing the remain vote such as HM Government and the Labour Party.

Leaflet issued by Labour endorsing the vote to stay in the EU

Away from South Shields, the ‘Vote Leave’ and ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ campaigns were also present in Newcastle upon Tyne on 16 April 2016, as Boris Johnson visited the city to speak at a ‘Vote Leave’ rally in Times Square, where there were reports of pro-EU hecklers. Additionally, around this time campaigners from both sides were spotted near Monument Metro station by Bell, handing out leaflets and the ‘Vote Leave’ badge that you can see pictured above. Having collected a ‘Vote Leave’ badge, South Shields Museum & Art Gallery decided to purchase a ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ badge to balance out the museum’s collection of ‘Brexit’ ephemera.

Unlike the Labour party’s public stance for remaining in the EU, the leading political party proved to be split by the two campaign sides. The ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ campaign was backed by then Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, whereas the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign was backed by Conservative MP Boris Johnson, and Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove.

What is evident from the campaign leaflets that have been collected is an emphasis on supposed ‘facts’ about what would happen to the UK either way. Both campaign sides can be seen to promote information and statistics about the UK and the EU, and these ‘facts’ were rallied back and forth across the media at the time. There were claims that UK trade would flourish outside of the EU against claims that worker’s rights would no longer be protected. The below leaflets from the

‘Leave.Eu’ and ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ campaigns show some of the opposing ‘facts’ that were argued by both sides.

Leaflet from ‘Leave.Eu’ campaign

‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ leaflet endorsing
the remain vote

‘Leave.Eu’ leaflet endorsing the leave vote

One of the many arguments by both sides was that the NHS would be better off:

‘Vote Leave’ campaign leaflet claiming that leaving the EU will allow more money to be spent on the NHS

‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ campaign leaflet claiming that staying in the EU will protect the NHS

The battle of these opposing facts and figures undoubtedly led to confusion over what would actually happen if the UK did leave the EU. This led to Michael Gove’s controversial quote that Britons have ‘had enough of experts’ becoming renowned for somewhat reflecting a public disenchantment with the onslaught of contradictory ‘facts’ and opinions on the subject.

Despite the abundance of ‘facts’ that were presented by both campaign sides about the UK’s fate outside of the EU, as I write this over a year after the referendum, the ‘Brexit’ negotiations are still taking place and the future of the UK outside of the EU remains unsure.

Although it is unknown what will happen in the future, taking these contemporary items into the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collections will ensure that for generations to come people can reflect upon what happened during this time. Contemporary collecting is therefore significant as it allows the organisation to continue to document the story of the people of the North East into the present day. This ‘Brexit’ campaign ephemera will remain in the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collections so that future generations can observe the rhetoric of the political campaigns that led to a majority vote for the UK to leave the European Union. Keeping up with historical events such as this is crucial for museums to stay relevant to their communities and to facilitate learning about North East life for posterity.

As a result of contemporary collecting the impact the European Union has had on the people of Tyneside can also be traced back in the Tyne & Wear Museum & Archives collections. For example, in the year 2000 Jesus Angel Miguel Garcia donated the European Union flag that you can see pictured at the top of this blog post, alongside the following narrative:

A European scholarship changed the direction of my life when it allowed me to come to Newcastle in 1991. It gave me the chance to broaden my horizons and to meet people from all over the world. Since then, I have tried to make a positive contribution to the communities of Newcastle where I have worked and lived all this time. (Garcia, 2000)

This narrative tells the story of some of the positive impact the European Union had on its citizens during Britain’s membership. This can sit alongside the new collection of ‘Brexit’ items to provide a bigger picture of the history of Britain’s time in the EU.

‘Shields Lass’ to ‘Land Girl’ – guest post by placement student Christina Hamilton

Military History Social History South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
Posted by administrator on September 5, 2017 Permalink Leave a comment

During my time at South Shields Museum and Art Gallery as a history volunteer, I have come across some wonderful items. My favourite item was a Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps badge for a woman named Frances Blackburn (nee Shone). Although objects alone are lovely to work with, it is always nice when you get to know about its past and the people associated with it. The badge was especially interesting as the daughter-in-law of the owner was the person who donated the item, along with a newspaper article about her mother in law, Frances Blackburn, and her time as a ‘Land Girl’ in the Women’s Land Army (WLA).

Frances Blackburn, Women’s Land Army. Taken from the newspaper clipping sent in with the badge.

The Women’s Land Army

The Women’s Land Army was a civilian organisation which allowed women to take over agricultural work when the men left for war, during the First and Second World War. These woman were known as ‘Land Girls’.

Shields Lass

Frances was born in South Shields on Brabourne Street in November 1905 and died at the age of 102 in 2008, making her one of the oldest ‘Land Girls’. She went to Stanhope Road School and when she was a young women she worked in service for a family who ran a brickwork company in Boldon.

Land Girl

The newspaper article that accompanied the badge and certificate gave detail into the life of Frances Blackburn and her time in the Women’s Land Army. The article states that she became a land girl in 1943, during the Second World War, working on farms and other jobs on the land to replace the men who worked them, after they left to fight for their country.

Medal and Certificate

In 2008, her daughter in law applied on her behalf to receive a medal for her efforts as a ‘Land Girl’ which she received, accompanied by a certificate from the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown. The certificate states;

‘The Government wishes to express to you its profound gratitude for your unsparing efforts as a loyal and devoted member of the Women’s Land Army/Women’s Timber Corps at a time when our Country depended upon you for its survival’.

The certificate to Frances, signed by Gordon Brown

The badge awarded to Frances Blackburn

After the Women’s Land Army

Obviously a very caring woman, after Frances left the Land Army, she stayed home to look after her ill mother, and when she died, Frances started working at Harton Dye Works, close to home in South Shields, until she married in 1964. In the article, Mrs Samanjoul said that Frances used to say, ‘what will be will be, always look on the bright side and keep the faith’ and she said that ‘nothing ever fazed her in life’.

Frances Blackburn certainly is a heroine of South Shields.

Frances Blackburn on her 100th birthday. Taken from the newspaper clipping sent in with the badge.

Happy Birthday to you….in 1942! – guest post by placement student Christina Hamilton

Collections & Objects Discovery Museum Local History Social History
Posted by administrator on September 4, 2017 Permalink Leave a comment

I am a museum studies master’s student, volunteering at the Discovery Museum for my work based placement as part of my Semester three module, ‘Museum, professional practice and research’. During my time here I have been accessioning objects and adding them onto the online collections. During this process, I came across a collection of birthday cards from 1942, sent to a woman named Gladys Harrison to celebrate her 21^st birthday; these included postcards and three telegrams.

Gladys Harrison

Postcard to Gladys from her mother and father for her 21st birthday

Gladys was born 15 March 1921 and died in 2016 at the age of 95. As the address on the telegrams and postcards suggest, she seems to have lived at Cullercoats at the time of her 21^st birthday.

My 21st Birthday Key

Whilst examining these, I happened to notice that many of them had a key adorning the cover. I thought this was interesting as I remember for my 21^st birthday I received a key; rather than appearing on a birthday card it came in the form of plastic tat alongside a similarly tacky, plastic champagne flute. However, I’m sure the symbolism was well intended in its purchase and delivery, but I must admit that it was quite lost on me. I assume my mind was distracted by the thought of going out that night to celebrate. But now, three years later, the novelty of my 21^st has worn off and I find myself referring back to this gift and comparing it to what I see displayed on these beautiful cards. The symbolism, I can assume in the images I see, whilst associated with special birthdays, also are related to wishing someone good luck and happiness, as can be translated by the horseshoes and messages of well-wishing strategically placed around the key.

21st birthday card to Gladys Harrison from ‘Mr & Mrs Penney & Molly@

My particular favourite of Gladys’ 21^st birthday cards is a white, red and silver card with a cheeky little cat jumping out of a flower basket. It is strange to see the message ‘To wish you good luck’ with a picture of a horseshoe, a symbol of luck, next to an image of a black cat, which are usually considered a symbol of bad luck. But the card is very sweet and clearly sent with the best of intentions.

After a bit of research on the subject I discovered that the ‘key’ was more than a symbol of good luck. The key is meant to represent a ‘key to the door’, what once would have been offered as a rite of passage, reaching the age of adulthood, the age of which it was appropriate for the recipient to freely come and go without parental consent. In this case, that age was 21, the age in which a person would be considered old enough to own their own key to their place of residence.

As my interest had been caught by the topic, I searched the museum’s collections for similar pieces and found more, all sent to celebrate a 21^st birthday. One of the most interesting pieces I found on my search was a beautiful, large wooden key made at Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson’s in Wallsend in 1953, for a co-worker’s 21^st birthday. It was apparently tradition for the joiners there to make these keys for the 21^st birthdays of the women employees; this particular key was made for a woman named Margaret Nicholson who was the company’s secretary. To celebrate her birthday, they had a tea party in the office and after work they went to the pub. Unfortunately, poor Margaret was refused entry as she was said to have looked under 21. There is a message on the front of the key, ‘‘Margaret’ and ‘June 30th 1953’’ and they have all signed the back, like they would inside a card. This is the only piece in the collections that I could find that replicates a birthday ‘key to the door’ in 3D form. Other examples of 21^st birthday cards can be found in the collections such as these in the image below.

Margaret’s 21st Birthday Key, front

Back

A large number of Gladys’ birthday cards display an image of a key. Despite my experience of the tradition, it seems to be a dying trend, as my visit to various card shops discovered. Although cards with a key present are available, their numbers seem to be dwindling, and although the odd shop may still sell keys to give as gifts, they seem to be a rare find. The buyer would probably have more luck buying online than finding them on the high street.

21st birthday card from the museum collections

In honour of Gladys’ and Margaret’s 21^st Birthday, although very belated, here is the chorus from a song written in 1912 by Alec Kendal called ‘I’m Twenty One Today’:

“I’m twenty-one today!
Twenty-one today!
I’ve got the key of the door!
Never been twenty-one before!
And father says I can do what I like!
So shout Hip-hip-hooray!
I’m a jolly good fellow,
Twenty-one today.”

(For the full set of lyrics see: http://monologues.co.uk/musichall/Songs-I/Im-Twenty-One-Today.htm)

Happy Birthday Gladys and Margaret!

Paul Nash, artist of powerful First World War paintings

Art Exhibitions Laing Art Gallery World War 1
Posted by administrator on August 31, 2017 Permalink Comments (1)

Paul Nash, 'We are making a new world', 1918, © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1146) http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20070

Paul Nash, ‘We are making a new world’, 1918, (Art.IWM ART 1146) © IWM
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20070

The fighting in the Ypres Salient in 1917 and the aftermath of the Battle of Passchendaele had a major effect on Paul Nash, and also made a big impact on his art. We are Making a New World is one of his most powerful paintings of the war, showing the sun rising on a scene of devastation. Red clouds symbolise the blood-letting, and the blasted trees stand for the dead soldiers. In addition, the semi-regular pattern of hillocks of mud carries a suggestion of graves. This picture was the centrepiece of Nash’s exhibition Void of War in 1918. Nash’s symbolic use of landscape (rather than showing dead soldiers) was admired at the time as a means of showing the ‘truth’ of war. We are Making a New World and other First World War paintings by Nash can be seen in the Laing’s new exhibition, Paul Nash, touring from Tate.

Paul Nash by Bassano Ltd, 29 April 1918, NPG x4084 © National Portrait Gallery, London https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Nash arrived on the Western Front in February 1917 as a second-lieutenant with the Hampshire Regiment. At first he was stationed in a quiet sector and was struck by the green burst of spring where there had only recently been a shell-scarred wood. However, he subsequently experienced the desperate fighting taking place in the Ypres Salient (and also suffered from the effects of gas, which damaged his asthmatic lungs). The sights he saw at the front line at the Battle of Passchendaele traumatised him. He described it as ‘one huge grave, and cast up on it the poor dead’. In his letter to his wife in November 1917, he went on to say:

It is unspeakable, godless, hopeless. I am no longer an artist interested and curious. I am a messenger who will bring back word from men fighting to those who want the war to last forever. Feeble, inarticulate will be my message, but it will have a bitter truth and may it burn their lousy souls.

The Landscape, Hill 60 (Art.IWM ART 1155) Image: a battle scarred landscape with a small lake surrounded by hills. The water has been disturbed by multiple hits and smoke rises from explosions. A few biplanes are engaged in a dogfight in the sky above. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20080

Paul Nash, ‘The Landscape, Hill 60’, 1918 (Art.IWM ART 1155) © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20080

The Ypres Salient includes Hill 60, which Nash depicted in this watercolour. Hill 60 gave artillery observers a good view over the flat land around Ypres, and it was fought over throughout the war. Nash’s picture shows a huge mine crater on the hill, with shellfire sending up a mass of waterspouts. The criss-cross patterns Nash has scratched in the paint perhaps represent scattered sheets of expanded wire from destroyed trenches, or paths up the steep sides of the cratered earth. Nash narrowly avoided being involved in an attack on Hill 60 that killed many fellow soldiers in his regiment. That particular attack, in August 1917, took place while Nash was away in England recovering from injuries from falling into a trench.

Hill_60_Ypres_Belgium_15_-_1917_deep_mine_crater_Hill_60

Hill 60, Ypres, Belgium. Deep mine crater from 1917. By ViennaUK – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40261479

Many mines were used in the constant struggles to take Hill 60, and the land remains heavily cratered. The remains of many British, Australian and German soldiers still lie in the ground (just as there are soldiers’ remains all over the Western Front), and there are several memorials in the Battlefield Park. This photograph from inside a large mine crater from 1917 on Hill 60 is from this battlefield tour site, and there are also details of Hill 60 here. Nash’s horror at the slaughter of the war prompted him to paint a rare watercolour showing dead soldiers in the ruined landscape, which is also in the exhibition.

'Ypres Salient at Night' b Paul Nash, 1918.© IWM (Art.IWM ART 1145) http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20069

The Battle of Passchendaele (July to November 1917) was still raging when Nash returned to the Ypres Salient at the end of October 1917, this time as an official war artist. In his picture The Ypres Salient at Night, Nash conveys the disorientating effects of night combat as a star shell bursts over the zig-zag front line, causing the sentries to duck their heads to protect their night vision. Here, the ‘trench’ is raised, not dug in, because of surface water in this low-lying area. The earth walls are supported by frameworks of timber and expanded wire, with a base of curved corrugated iron.

The Ypres Salient at Night was also included in Nash’s Void of War exhibition in 1918. The powerful pictures in the exhibition brought Nash a commission from the Government to produce a large painting as a memorial to the soldiers who fought and died in the war. This is The Menin Road, 1918-19. Nash chose to paint one of the most dangerous spots on the Western Front, located on the main route from the city of Menin to the city of Ypres. Its dangers meant that it was almost deserted in daylight.

In this huge painting, Nash used a fractured style influenced by Cubism and Vorticism to express the devastation of the landscape. Searchlights slash the sky, and the scene is fragmented by diagonal black shadows. Sharp-edged sheets of corrugated iron and angular concrete blocks from a destroyed trench or military post litter the earth. In the distance, columns of mud shoot up as shells explode. The only figures are a couple of soldiers in the centre of the composition, and another pair following on much further back, all of them almost lost in the huge panorama of desolation. Solid-looking dark clouds, infused with dust and smoke, add to the sense of menace. Comparing Nash’s painting with a well-known photograph of a similar scene from October 1917, we can see the way Nash has organised and patterned the landscape to create the effect he wanted. It’s also clear how he relied on the landscape itself, rather than figures, to represent the effects of war.

Australian gunners on a duckboard track in Château Wood near Hooge, 29 October 1917. Photo by Frank Hurley. Image: Collection Database of the Australian War Memorial, ID Number: E01220

Even after Paul Nash returned home in 1918, the war was not completely over for him. Like many of the soldiers returning from the war, he suffered post-traumatic stress and depression. Echoes of the battlefront trenches and fortifications carried over into landscape paintings and coastal views he painted on the south coast of England in the 1920s.

Paul Nash is on show at the Laing Art Gallery from 9 September to 14 January.

First World War Talks at the Laing

18 October, 12.30-1.15pm: Paul Nash and Landscapes of the First World War in Literature, with Ann-Marie Einhaus of Northumbria University

29 November, 12.30-1.15pm: “The Personnel of Armageddon”: Politicians and Artists, 1914-1919, with Martin Farr of Newcastle University [@martinjohnfarr]

First World War paintings in the Paul Nash exhibition

Paul Nash 1889–1946, Spring in the Trenches, Ridge Wood, 1917, 1918, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Paul Nash 1889–1946, We Are Making a New World, 1918, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Paul Nash 1889–1946, Wounded, Passchendaele, 1918, Manchester City Galleries

Paul Nash 1889–1946, The Ypres Salient at Night, 1918, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Paul Nash 1889–1946, The Landscape Hill 60, 1918, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Paul Nash 1889–1946, After the Battle, 1918, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Paul Nash 1889–1946, The Menin Road, 1918-19, IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Blog

The Sound of the Singing Sands: Part 1

Paul Nash, artist of powerful First World War paintings

It is unspeakable, godless, hopeless. I am no longer an artist interested and curious. I am a messenger who will bring back word from men fighting to those who want the war to last forever. Feeble, inarticulate will be my message, but it will have a bitter truth and may it burn their lousy souls.

First World War Talks at the Laing

First World War paintings in the Paul Nash exhibition

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