What i tried to do yesterday was superimpose the old photo over a street view photo of Holt Hill and get some idea of scale and size, it was a bugger to line up, perhaps someone with the ability and tools to do it can have a go. I can't find the height of the Ark Royal but it looks as if it would tower above the present day construction hall which is 107m high, 351 feet in old money.
Not quite sure about your figures there Bert. I know the Cammell Laird website says the Construction Hall is 145m(L)x107m(H)x50m(W), but this is clearly a typo: it should read 145m(L)x107m(W)x50m(H)! The height is actually 50 metres, about 164 feet in old money. For comparison, the height of the Ark Royal from baseline (ie bottom of keel) to flightdeck was, based on my measurement of a set of plans, 87 feet 4 inches (about 26.5m for you youngsters out there); given that the ways she was sitting on were about 5 feet high, that would give a total overall height at launch of about 92 feet (just over 28m).
Edward Chambre Hardman used to travel along Holt Hill every day on his way to his Liverpool studios from his home in Heswall and over weeks and months saw the Ark Royal slowly rising from the slipways at Laird's.
He took his famous picture, called The Birth of the Ark Royal, when he saw the ship had been given its white coat of paint, making it stand out so dramatically in the distance. I don't think it was painted white for the sake of the Queen Mother, but the white was just the undercoat for the final grey topcoat.
He retouched bits of the original photo to give the final image greater effect. The gable end of the house on the left was in reality whitewashed. But Hardman realised this would distract from the main focus of the picture - the white Ark Royal. So he used a dye to darken the gable end.
He used a telephoto lens to bring foreground and background closer together, painted out an unwanted lamp-post and retouched one of the schoolboy's socks to bring it up to the same height as the other.
It all added up to what I think is one of the greatest pictures you'll see of Birkenhead - when we were still a powerhouse of shipbuilding.
A visit to the Chambre Hardman studios in Rodney Street, Liverpool, is highly recommended.
Last edited by yoller; 31st May 20118:27pm. Reason: typo
Edward Chambre Hardman used to travel along Holt Hill every day on his way to his Liverpool studios from his home in Heswall A visit to the Chambre Hardman studios in Rodney Street, Liverpool, is highly recommended.
The house is on my list of places to visit.
Holt Hill doesn't seem to be on a logical route from Heswall to Liverpool. Was he perhaps driving & parked his car at Green Lane station?
What i tried to do yesterday was superimpose the old photo over a street view photo of Holt Hill and get some idea of scale and size, it was a bugger to line up, perhaps someone with the ability and tools to do it can have a go. I can't find the height of the Ark Royal but it looks as if it would tower above the present day construction hall which is 107m high, 351 feet in old money.
Not quite sure about your figures there Bert. I know the Cammell Laird website says the Construction Hall is 145m(L)x107m(H)x50m(W), but this is clearly a typo: it should read 145m(L)x107m(W)x50m(H)! The height is actually 50 metres, about 164 feet in old money. For comparison, the height of the Ark Royal from baseline (ie bottom of keel) to flightdeck was, based on my measurement of a set of plans, 87 feet 4 inches (about 26.5m for you youngsters out there); given that the ways she was sitting on were about 5 feet high, that would give a total overall height at launch of about 92 feet (just over 28m).
Thanks for the correction, i did indeed get the measurements from the website and had no way of correcting them, only memories, Always liked the photo but at the same time always thought it had been interfered with.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
You're right about Holt Hill not being a logical way from Heswall to Liverpool - straight down Borough Road to the tunnel would be the obvious route. Unless, as you say, he parked his car at Green Lane.
That story about him driving along Holt Hill is one I recall after visiting the Chambre Hardman studio a few years ago and I may have got it a bit mixed up.
Perhaps he occasionally diverted from his normal route to have a look at how the Ark Royal was progressing. I think he must have had the picture in mind for some time before he judged the conditions were right to take it.
Also, my recollection about him altering the boy's socks doesn't tally with the picture - because, looking at the picture, the socks seem not to line up! Sorry for any confusion there.
As I mentioned, it's best to visit the studio, where they give a full (and accurate!) account of how he came to take the picture.
