When you are there right in front of it you can see its the same bridge. I just tried to get a similar view to the original. I took more pictures but for some reason only the one i posted, was on my memory card. May try and get some more another time. Also hunt down this dial thingy you mentioned in later posts, never noticed anything.... but then, i wasn't looking for it at the time.
I always thought that was a Sundial. Walked through the "Mops" nearly every day it wasn't rainy to go to B.I. and back home in the (early) seventies.We also used to play there very often, or use it as a short cut to the top of the Noccy.
Well, that pillar in DD's pics isn't like the thing I thought I saw on the postcard. I see it had a plaque fixed to it at some time' wonder what it was. Can you locate it on the map, DD? Just a small point about the bridge. I'm sure I remember driving over it a couple of years ago & noticing that the parapet was built of brick & stone faced (some of the stone had fallen off). Wonder if it's all of that construction.
Its roughly the same location as where the "direction dial" is marked on the maps. Quite a few steel park benches around there as well, some in the open and some overgrown when I was there.
Edit: If you look at my closer picture, the edges of the top of the pillar have been knocked away, taking that into account it is the same as the postcard I think.
Last edited by diggingdeeper; 20th Mar 20108:46pm.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Could be that the original construction was replaced with the pillar. Interesting about the benches; it was much more open there years ago; the views would have been great. A lot of trees have grown since the postcard picture. Here's another map of the area, unsure of the date, but pre-1896, because no railway. No Vyner Rd. either, so the postcard (which I'm bidding on BTW) is later than this map.
Ah, you can see my "dial" just slightly to the right of that tree (need to open piccy to get it big enough to see), I just realised you said in front of the tree.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
The big loop of Ford Hill, on Upton Rd., was built to replace the old route: imagine a straight line cutting off the loop. That old track was known as the Thermopylae Pass & the bridge in the pics. is where Vyner Rd. South crosses it.
Went here today. The direction dial is much nearer the bridge than I'd imagined, so definitely not the construction I thought I saw on the postcard (which I won, BTW). Here's an enlarged section of the map, with it arrowed in red. You can see the 2 sets of steps leading to it; I just walked down them from Vyner Rd.South, the other steps are those you can see in DD's pic. leading down into the pass. Also, I was right about the bridge wall on Vyner Rd.South. It now looks as if a large section of the stonework was demolished at some time & re-built in brick, which was then rendered & scribed to match (not very well) the surrounding stonework. I wonder what happened.
Possibly car damage? I know that that stretch of Vyner Road is used as a bit of a high speed race track and short cut to avoid the lights at the Boundry Rd/ Upton Rd junction.
