In January 2014 a delegation from Wincobank in Sheffield travelled to the vast Rio Tinto mine in southern Spain to find the WW1 war memorial the creation of which was documented in a 1920s album that Byron's children had found in a garden some years ago when houses were being cleared ready for demolition on the Flower Estate, in Wincobank.The diagrams and archaeological photographs revealed that the axles of four huge Roman water wheels had been melted down to provide the bronze for the plaques which were inscribed with the names of the British directors of Rio Tinto who had died in the Great War.
An additional exhibit at the British Museum shows an axle and other metal work from the same excavation.
It is extraordinary enough that such priceless artefacts were recycled in this way. The locals were very curious as to why there was even a WW1 memorial when Spain did not take part in to war.
The diagram shows how the Romans used these water wheels to pump water from the mine.
For us the question is - how and why did this mysterious album with its unique content end up in a back garden in the Flower Estate in Sheffield?
For more information on the Wincobank History Mystery you may like to read the diary entries below and look out for more information on our website https://www.wincobankhill.btck.co.uk
FIVE GO TO SPAIN
A FRIENDS OF WINCOBANK HILL ADVENTURE
SHEFFIELD TO BELLA VISTA, RIO TINTO
DAVID’S DIARY
INTRODUCTION
Many will now know the
story behind the journey but for those who don’t please bear with me.
Some time ago now members
of Friends of Wincobank Hill were working with Dr Roger Doonan of Sheffield University
While taking a break Dr
Roger, Byron Cowling and I, David Green, sat discussing what we may find from the
results and spoke about the lack of a major water source, a well now found by
our friend Mike Bruin.
At this point Byron said
that he had a book at home on wells and water wheels and proceeded to fetch it.
On his return he presented
me with what looked like a very old scrap book.
Turning the first page the
old book became a very old Photo-album and after the next few pages I suddenly
realised the prints were of silver nitrate process around the turn of the
century.
I closed the album and
passed it to Roger saying - this has been sent for you.
Dr Roger Doonan is an
archaeologist in the field of Metallurgy and one of
only a few people in the
country to recognise the serious importance of the photo-album at this first viewing.
THE JOURNEY BEGAN TO FIND
OUT HOW A NINETEENTH
CENTURY PHOTO-LOG OF THE
CREATION OF A 1ST WORLD
IN SPAIN FOUND ITS WAY TO AN HOUSE CLEARANCE IN SHEFFIELD FOUND BY BYRON’S CHILDREN AND RESCUED BY BYRON HIMSELF.
FIVE WENT TO SPAIN
OUR FIRST NIGHT
After a long drive from
Faro Portugal to Bella Vista
Spain w
We were just a little bit
hungry by this time so we decided to have a walk through the town in search of
a hot meal. The town was strangely
quiet I thought.
After introducing Byron to
Deep Fried Chocó Tapas and a reasonably priced meal it was off to bed. Incidentally Chocó’s was
deep fried Cuttlefish in batter.
DAY 2 MONDAY 13th JANUARY 20014
Today Roger made contact
with the Museum Archive people at Rio Tinto and made an appointment to meet.
While we waited for the
appointment time we went off to pick up Hilary and Ken at Bella Vista and
having some time to kill we had a quick walk to find the Monument (page 1 in
the album).
This proved easier than we
thought and we got our first look at the actual monument to the fallen of Rio
Tinto Company who gave their lives in the 1st world war.
Byron posed by the monument
to give us some scale to the scene.
Inspecting the plaque we
found no visible makers mark.
Next we went to visit the
museum itself, I was quite impressed with the re-construction of a Roman Mine.
We had a good look round
the museum until it was time to meet the archivist in another building down the
road.
Roger took the lead
introducing us all and it became very difficult as the gentleman spoke no English
and between us we managed to form a conversation.
Roger opened the album at
the first page and with gasps of excitement and the odd fabiloso and marveloso
we had got his attention.
We arranged to meet next
morning to see the archive and after an exchange of gifts reminiscent of
exchanging shirts at a football match we left a very excited fellow.
After lunch we set off to
inspect Bella Vista Township
Returning to the monument
it was decided to have a climb up the spoil heaps that were almost on the
doorstep and take a look around.
It was great having our
very own Geologist with us to explain the multitude of different ore material
around us.
With second wind Roger and
Byron shot off and we three brought up the rear they had found the first of our
other goals a massive mine working was literally over the next hill and we five
were in awe at the sight that met us.
The Devils Hole - not quite
sure where that name came from but given to a mine working, a man made
structure dug out of the country side was by far the most awesome sight you
could imagine.
Time told us when we had to
leave and we made our way back to Cassa 21 the home of the Managers of Rio
Tinto Company.
The house was just as it
was when the last manager left.
Our Guide around the house
pointed us in the right direction for the Ingles Cemetery
When we got there we found
the cemetery was extremely over grown and a much neglected piece of land.
I managed to get a few
names but many of the graves were damaged.
DAY 3 TUESDAY 14th JANUARY 2014
This morning we split up
with Byron and Roger heading for the archive and armed with lots of questions.
Although they seemed to get
very little in the way of answers it was obvious that we needed a visit to the
London Offices of Rio Tinto and thankfully we now had the name of a company archivist
here in Rio Tinto.
The Gift I mentioned
earlier was a very large directory of the company archive, a very useful gift
indeed.
While this was going on we
three intrepid researchers went off set to match the photographs of the album to
now time.
Hilary's natural
friendliness led to her striking up a somewhat one way conversation with a passing
couple of young men of whom we still don’t know what they were doing in Bella
Vista that day.
Between us we managed to
find out that one of the guys was a photographer and journalist and we three
were interviewed and photographed, we showed them the album and explained our
visit.
Later, on our walk through
and photo-logging Hilary and our little band
were invited to visit the Bella Vista Social Club. We accepted and waited for Roger
and Byron to arrive.
As we entered the club we
soon realised that it had been kept in its Victorian Style, this was obviously
the place for the management to meet after a days work and for the ladies to
relax around the pool or have a tennis match during the day
After lunch we set off to
search for the Roman Cemetery
We found the Cemetery but
was unable to gain access the Roman
Cemetery was nestled if
nestled is a good term between the absolutely huge business of Ore collection.
Further on our trek we came
upon the Rio Tinto and a damaged bridge that once spanned the Red River .
Roger Byron and Ken included,
all went into boy mode and tried their best to scare the living daylights out
of Hillary and I, almost succeeding may I add.
After time and a pause for
a photo shoot to log our arrival we set off back to our accommodation to clean
up before our evening meal.
A very pleasant evening was
spent at a bar restaurant themed on the movie El Corazon De La Tierra the Heart
of the Earth and we believe many of the cast had visited there as well.
After the Meal we all went
off to our beds.
Arriving back at our hostel
we were met with a message from the Civil Civitas who requested a meeting to
talk.
Being a small township we
first thought word had gone round about 3 strangers in town and we laughed over
what it could be about so after imagining the worse that it could be Roger
replied and offered to meet next morning.
DAY 4 WEDNESDAY 15th JANUARY 2014
Apparently when the young
man interviewed us yesterday had posted his piece to the local paper via email,
so not only did the paper get the report but so did every Spanish speaking
country in the world as wide as Venezuela
in South America .
The Local Civil Civitas
turned out to be Senior Rafael Pera Carrasco the Director for Tourism &
Trade at the Council of Culture and Senior Miguel Bunguellos Perina a very good
English speaking archaeologist, who worked for the Civic Council and he had
learnt his English whilst working in York
as a conservator.
We spoke about who we were
and about our journey to Rio Tinto.
We then showed them the
album and they were overjoyed and excited that we were ordinary folk on a
Quest.
Before they had to leave
they apologised on behalf of the Lady Lord Mayor who was upset she could not
meet us as she was hospitalised and in labour, we were shocked that she was
upset not to meet us and we sent
her our best wishes.
Reviewing our conversation
we now had yet another Spanish friend to add to our quest.
During our conversation
about the names in the album Miguel told us the story of a Nurse Gladys Naylor who
faithfully tendered the Grave of the Man With No Name until she passed away. (WW2 war hero whose dead body was washed up
on Spanish Shores with documents planted upon him to mislead the Germans need
to watch the film) we were surprised to find her name in the Rio Tinto
archive document.
Roger, Byron and Myself set
of to pick up Ken and Hilary.
Hillary had decided today
was a good day to relax and have some me time so the four of us decided a
little road trip was in order.
We set off towards the Roman
Cemetery where materials were taken to make the Memorial Column and we took in some
of the most awesome sites of man’s destruction of the landscape and yet in that
act, creating a vista given its own kind of beauty, I could not help thinking
about the massive loss of life during and after the removal of the Ore though.
Heading back after our
little jaunt we just had to stop off at the round-about at the end of the
divide road that separated Bella Vista from Rio Tinto, to see a railway engine
stationed at its centre.
After collecting Hilary we
decided we would take the opportunity to do the museum visit to some mine workings.
Hilary had discovered that
their landlord at the Victorian House was responsible for the rescue and
preservation of artifacts (statues and columns) from The Roman Cemetery having
used the mattresses from his beds to move them.
On display at the local
museum. Visiting the museum de
minas was very interesting and we were to see a Little Devils Hole small in
comparison to our first find but non the less spectacular.
On an impulse to see where
a road lead us, we took what can only be described as a scary ride to who knows
where and we were chased by a huge dog who nearly caught up with the car, we
then found a spot of according to Roger as a wonderful Example of Volcanos at
work in a Strange Environment, I think?
On our return to Bella
Vista we collected our bags and
Left heading for Huelva which was to be our next resting place
stopping off at Niebla on the way,
DAY 5
THURSDAY 16th JANUARY 2014
Last night we arrived at Huelva quite late but it didn’t stop us from
taking a night view of the city and port.
Today we got up quite early
so as to go down to the port to see the massive iron steel construction at the
end of the Rio Tinto Rail Line which brought the Ore
to be delivered by ship around the world.
We were not disappointed
the working of the steel columns and iron girders were brilliant.
Atoning to the age of the
construction mention was made to the fact that before Rail had arrived it was
mule trains that transported the Ore. Poor mules.
We decided to head for
Niebla following the coast line and as we were leaving Huelva I managed to take a snap shot of a giant
statue that I have now discovered to be that of Christopher Columbus.
We then had a brief stop at
Playa De Matalascanas where Byron thought it might be fun to take a dip but
settled on a paddle instead.
I, on the other hand, found a
statue to Sancho Panza a character featured in the book Don Quixote apparently
the patron of the apartment block in which the statue sits.
Moving away from fictional
characters this part of our Journey was in search of Dame Enid Whishaw who is mentioned in the Album
along with the archaeological digs at Niebla.
We finally arrived in
Niebla and walked the historic and somewhat ancient walled city.
It was strange to see the Roman Bridge
The fellas set off to
search for the caves pictured in the Album whilst I and Hilary set off to see
what was around us.
Roger Byron and Ken found a
vandalised footpath come walk way and set off to investigate.
Damaged walkways not being
to my liking I entered a gate marked by a plaque as Embarkation Point and went
inside.
Opening out into a very
large area and with a lots of imagination it could have been a busy market area or for
warehousing and shipping business and what looked like five wells although it was
suggested that four that were near the walls may have been the bases for some
sort of crane and pulley idea.
I mentioned ancient walls
because of the Roman
Bridge
I also found Roger Byron
and Ken, Roger & Byron moving a steel girder to repair the walkway (mad or
what).
After a very pleasant day
we were saddened by the fact that we did not find the cave workings or the
school created by Dame Enid Whishaw but that will do for the next trip.
It was back to our hostel
for the evening.
Although I haven’t said
much about our accommodation I found staying in hostels
a pleasant change especially the one in Huelva
which was a converted Hacienda and very pleasant.
DAY 6 FRIDAY 17th JANUARY 2014
Another early start because
it was our day off and sightseeing was the order of the day.
Given the distance between Cadiz and Huelva
and Seville a nd Huelva , Seville
was to be our day out.
Arriving in Seville we found a city of beautiful architecture
and plenty of brilliant photo opportunities and space to walk around.
After a pleasant walk along
by the river we arrived at my destination The Cathedral. where to find Christopher
Columbus his coffin carried aloft by Conquistadors was a fine monument. And the great frieze which
was to my sadness covered undergoing conservation work, Seville Cathedral is a
beautiful must see visit.
Roger had learnt that
Bernard Whishaw the husband of Dame E.M. Whishaw was
buried somewhere In Seville and Byron found The Sign of the Illuminate,
in a small Cathedral Chapel all very Dan Brown.
We then went off in search
of the Bullring which when we got there was closed.
Lots left to search for in Seville especially Dame Enid’s story.
A very nice day out none
the less.
Sometime during the week
Roger received a message from Penny Rea back in England
that a Jim Royal who had seen the article in the Huelva
news about our visit was keen to meet us. So we arranged to meet at a
petrol station outside the town so he could guide us to his
home.
It was getting late but we
were made very welcome by Jim, his wife and two lovely
daughters. Jim is a Geologist with a
big interest in the 1st World War and had done some research
into the Monument. He gave us some interesting
pointers for us to follow up later.
Our short visit was great
and its good to have another friend to add to the list.
DAY 7 SATURDAY 18th JANUARY 2014
So its the last day in Spain and back to Faro Portugal .
I think it goes without
saying that the company was great and that Roger deserves a mention.
It was Roger who organised
everything and yet kept it fluid. His driving skills kept us
on a safe path even though he loved buzzing the car with the
lane markings to try out Hilary’s temper.
Cheers to our new friends
in Spain and hope to see you
again sometime.
Adios Amigos!
THE END
OR
A
NEW BEGINNING ?
