Brian Hull gave a presentation of Lord Armstrong the nineteenth century pioneering engineer. The talk featured many images of his industrial achievements and concluded with an exploration around the estate at Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland and the famous house. Included were explanations of the ground breaking “Armstrong gun”, a highly innovative field artillery piece featuring the barrel comprised of successive layers of wrought iron, a breech loading mechanism, giving a manoeuvrable weapon, in stark contrast to the heavy artillery in use during the Crimea War, for which his invention was designed to supplant.
The many adaptations of hydraulic power and Armstrong’s famous Accumulator were noted, including the steam powered bascules of Tower Bridge, London, designed and installed by the Armstrong company. Other engineering achievements included swing bridges, most famously crossing the Tyne river, but also railway swing bridges over the Ouse in Yorkshire. Then mentioned were his enormous cranes often rated at 100 tons, used for lifting heavy gun barrels onto the ships built by Armstrongs on the Tyne. At the end of the nineteenth century his companies famously provided all the ships used by Japan in the Russo-Japan war.
His vision assisted by the architect Richard Norman Shaw in developing a hunting lodge on the hillside at Cragside into the delightful house situated above Debdon Burn, unique in the World for the electric power provided by hydro-electricity and visited today by many thousands each year, completed the talk.
