MOTORISTS in Devon have complained that a 41 mile diversion of the A532 will close for a week to repair just 65ft of a sewage system. The Daily Express says that although the distance usually takes about a second to cover while travelling at the 30mph speed limit, highway officials have worked out an alternative route that measures 41 miles. Anyone caught using the closed stretch of road will be handed a £1,000 on-the-spot fine.
Heather Chapman, who runs Green Valley Yurts near to the closure, said: “It’s just crazy and there doesn’t seem to be any logic to it. It’s a ridiculous route and everybody who’s local will just ignore it and go different ways.”
Dorset County Council said the detour “has to be suitable for the type of traffic that would normally use the closed section”.
According to The Guardian, hundreds of properties have been added to the Heritage at Risk register which means they are in danger of being lost forever.
They include the Grand Quarter of Leeds, a Georgian tower overlooking Bath, and a group of prefabricated Victorian lighthouses.
The organisation is in charge of preserving England’s heritage, and the warning is because the properties are deemed to be vulnerable to decay, neglect or inappropriate development.
The annual list is said to offer a snapshot of the state of England’s historic environment.
Duncan Wilson, Historic England’s chief executive, said: “Our heritage needs to be saved and investing in heritage pays. It helps to transform the places where we live and work, and which we visit, creating successful places and distinctive places for us and for future generations to
enjoy.”
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is to show a newly discovered biblical painting by Rembrant.
An article in The Guardian says that the museum had secured the loan of Let the Little Children Come to Me, which was offered at a German auction in 2014 listed as “Netherlandish School” and was bought for €1.5m by a Dutch art dealer,
The painting will be shown at the Ashmolean next year as part of an exhibition examining the artist’s first decade, 1624-34.
Co-curator of the show Christopher Brown commented: “In his early paintings, prints and drawings we find a young artist exploring his own style, grappling with technical difficulties and making mistakes. But his progress is remarkable and the works in this exhibition demonstrate an amazing development from year to year.”
The BBC informs us that the face of a Medieval man whose remains were found in Aberdeen in Scotland has been reconstructed.
‘Skeleton 125’ was one of 60 full skeletons and more than 4,000 human bone fragments found after work began at the Aberdeen Art Gallery redevelopment site.
Dr Paula Milburn, from AOC Archaeology, said: “The ongoing post-excavation work is examining the remains in detail and will provide us with amazing information on the kind of people buried here, including their ages, gender, health and lifestyles.”
An article in The Independent reveals that an “extraordinary” stash of Bronze Age weapons unearthed in central London last September, including swords, daggers and axes, will be investigated in a major exhibition opening in April next year at the Museum of London Docklands, east London.
More than 450 objects, dating from between 900 and 800 BC, were found – the largest of its kind ever found in the capital and the third largest in the UK.
Excavators struck the “hugely significant” metals during a planned archaeological investigation at the undisclosed location in Havering, east London.
Weapons and tools including axe heads, spearheads, fragments of swords, daggers and knives, were among the objects found, but almost all of them are partially broken or damaged, leaving historians confused as to why they ended up being carefully buried at the site.
Reference list
- The Express (www.express.co.uk)
- The Guardian
- The BBC
- The Independent