Hi, I never actually went out with a telegraph pole, but one girl in particular was very tall, she could have been related to a telegraph pole, or had one in her family tree somewhere. I wasn`t bothered but we used to finish up with stiff necks at the end of the night. I`m only five foot six and half. (the half is very important when your my size).  I also went out with a plank from Liverpool once. I`m not saying they are all like that, I met a really intelligent girl from there and I used to enjoy the craic with the Everton supporters in particular when they came to Manchester. Hope you manage to sort your problem out. George Carter in Whaley Bridge >________________________________ > From: La Greenall <eldeworth@googlemail.com> >To: Adrian Gray <grayadrian3@gmail.com> >Cc: essex-uk@rootsweb.com >Sent: Friday, 5 April 2013, 11:40 >Subject: Re: [Ess] Dating telegraph poles... > >Hi Adrian. I tried to look at other postcards of Gt Sampford on eBay; >saw one posted 1934 but the only recently sold one I could find with a >pole has the top of it cut off by the top of the postcard! > >My few thoughts, for what they are worth: seek other images of the same >place and places very near by, of different dates, to try to chart the >changes in local poles. It may also be worth seeing if the line of poles >in question is shown on any old, large scale OS maps (at ERO or via eBay >- or maybe oldmaps.com though these may not be of large enough scale). >You could then look for images of other poles on the same route, and >also research the history of the line itself, as well as its termini and >other ports of call. > >Secondly, no insulators would suggest low voltage, i.e. a genuine >telegraph or telephone line, as opposed to mains or other HV >electricity, which would need insulators, or at least bigger insulators. >If I remember right, phone lines are or used to be only 50 volts. > >As you've already thought of, directories might give a clue as top when >people in the village first had telephones. Persevere with that - >adverts for local businesses and prominent buildings (civic, >communications, alcoholic)  and court listings of grander private >residences would be worth seeking out. These could then be plotted on a >local map in order to work out where the lines might have run. The local >historical society, if there is one, may well have such material. Also >try further afield, such as neighbouring villages and the nearest town - >they would all be part of a cabling network which must have grown more >or less linearly from central hub (town) to village and then the next >village in the same direction. Trace the source in other words. > >Another approach, though it would be a long, boring slog, would be to >study telegraph poles on eBay postcards in general, and via Google >Images, noting down whenever an image is datable, such as your 1932/34 >example. Record Office images would be ideal, since they are usually >dated quite reliably, even if only approximately sometimes. > >Then maybe there's a district or county newspaper article on the first >arrival of these contraptions? > >Lastly, maybe this website might help: http://www.telegraphpole.org/ - >but don't look at the "Whence they Came" link! In fact, the whole site >is very odd - they must have got electrocuted trying to collect insulators. > >Cheers, >Lawrence > > >On 05/04/2013 09:43, Adrian Gray wrote: >> I'm hoping that someone with Essex local history research experience might >> be able give me some pointers! I know it's not directly genealogy-relevant, >> but I also know that there's a lot of Essex knowledge here (grovels to Elmo >> and Dudley). >> >> I'm trying to date the photograph on a postcard I've just bought on ebay of >> Great Sampford. The biggest clue as to the date is the telegraph poles with >> no cross pieces, as opposed to the ones with two cross pieces and several >> insulators visible in a card of the same part of the village sent in 1932. >> It was written on, assuming the date given is correct, Wednesday July 20th, >> which a perpetual calender tells me occurred in 1921 and 1927. >> >> Obviously the cards concerned must pre-date all of these dates - so can >> anyone give me any clues as to when the telegraph poles might have arrived >> in Great Sampford first? I considered trade directories, but I only have >> 1914 and 1933, which doesn't help. >> >> Many thanks, >> >> Adrian >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >