Ride on Sarah!

Sarah Siddons

Sarah Siddons (5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was the most famous female actress in Georgian Britain and was the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character: Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own. In private life Siddons enjoyed the friendship and respect of many of the most eminent persons of her time. Horace Walpole at first refused to join the fashionable chorus of her praise, but he was ultimately won over. Samuel Johnson wrote his name on the hem of her garment in the famous picture of the actress as the Tragic Muse by Reynolds (now in the Dulwich Gallery). "I would not lose", he said, "the honour this opportunity afforded to me for my name going down to posterity on the hem of your garment." Siddons died in London on the 8th of June 1831, and was buried in Paddington churchyard. This is now Paddington Green and located on the south side, facing the Marylebone flyover is the statue of Sarah Siddons, by Chevaliand, which was erected in 1897, as she lived in the neighbourhood when Paddington was still rural.


Paddington Green

Her house, where she gave private readings, once stood on what is now the top of Baker Street in London at the side of the Metropolitan Line’s Baker Street Station and was in fact demolished by the railway in 1928 when Baker Street was extended as far as the Outer Circle of Regents Park. The railway must have felt guilty about this act of vandalism because they erected a plaque on the site and named the electric locomotive after her which is today the last operating electric locomotive of this series. ( http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html )

Sarah Siddons, the oldest working main line electric locomotive in Britain will make special trips between Harrow-on-the-Hill, via Rickmansworth to Amersham on Sunday 17 May as part of the Rickmansworth Festival. Engine no. 12, Sarah Siddons, was built in 1922 and is the last operational Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive; the only surviving working engine out of 20 built by Metropolitan Vickers and mostly named after people associated with the area served by the Metropolitan Railway. The engines had a top speed of 65 miles per hour.



Sarah will pull carriages dating back to the 1950s and is making four special trips. Adult tickets cost £20.00 and they're only £3.00 for children. However, the first journey is £25.00 as it travels via Watford and the north curve.

A vintage bus service including the Museum's prototype Routemaster bus RM1 will run from Rickmansworth station to the Rickmansworth Festival site at Batchworth Lock.

You can book tickets on this link;

https://ticket.ltmuseum.co.uk/peo/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=65

or by phone on 020 7565 7298.

Rickmansworth is known as the “Gateway to the Chilterns” and is the lynch pin of “Metroland” – the land developed by the Metropolitan Railway to finance its expansion into Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. One notable claim to fame is its inclusion on the opening page of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Colloquially Rickmansworth is often shortened to "Ricky" as used in the town's annual "Ricky Week" celebrations. The town's canal history (It is on the Grand Union Canal) is remembered every year at the end of Ricky Week with the Rickmansworth Festival.

Rickmansworth also has a famous frost hollow caused by the Metropolitan Railway. This is caused by the local geography, notably the railway embankment which prevents the natural drainage of cold air from a specific part of the valley. Rickmansworth recorded the largest daily temperature range in England when, on 29th August 1936, the temperature climbed from 1.1°C at dawn to 24.9°C within 9 hours due to this unique geographic feature.

The Rickmansworth Festival takes place on the third weekend of May every year and celebrates canals, the community and the environment. Now going for over fifteen years, it is the highlight of the town’s annual calendar and finale of Rickmansworth Week.



The top attraction for many is the wonderful array of canal boats from across the country - a unique spectacle moored along the towpath up to four deep. The Rickmansworth Festival started as purely a canal based festival in 1993, initially as part of the British Waterways "Canals 200" celebration that year. The first event used Rickmansworth Aquadrome as the main location for land activities, although in following years a much smaller festival centred upon Batchworth Lock.

An Environment Fair organised by Three Rivers District Council, held separately in the Aquadrome, was incorporated about six years ago. The festival then outgrew Batchworth Lock, once again moving into the Aquadrome to provide extra space and a wider community focus. Entertainment also increased to offer three live music stages at the Aquadrome, Batchworth Lock and in the on-site beer tent (acoustic only), which are dedicated particularly to allowing young musicians to perform.



There will be a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire on the Saturday afternoon, weather permitting. There will also be a Metropolitan Line Heritage Train running between Harrow, Rickmansworth and Amersham on Sunday with vintage bus service from Rickmansworth station to Batchworth lock.

http://www.rwt.org.uk/festival.html

One of the permanent exhibits on the canal is Roger who was once a working narrow boat on the Grand Union Canal between London and the Midlands, delivering mainly coal to factories along the route. The eventual demise of commercial trade led to Roger unloved and in poor repair. Liable to sink at any moment, he was rescued and lovingly restored to his former glory by the Rickmansworth Waterways Trust. Now Roger is back and part of activities to educate a new generation in canal history.


Batchworth Lock

Roger had a long and varied career as a working boat on the Grand Union Canal since Bushell Brothers of Tring built him in 1936. He took his cargo whenever it was needed – mainly coal – to many a factory along the route between London and the Midlands.

One of Roger’s jobs was to deliver coal from Coventry to John Dickinson’s paper mill next to the Grand Union at Croxley – at the time the largest in Europe. This work came under the stewardship of canal commerce stalwarts Arthur Bray, his wife Rose and her son Ernie Kendal. Roger carried 20 tons of coal for the 86 hour round trip, his "buddy" (butty) boat Raymond taking a further 30 tons. On arrival at the mill, the Brays unloaded their cargo from both boats hand by hand and earned at most £16 for their efforts.

Both boats later carried coal from Coventry to a jam making factory in Southall, a 240 mile round trip with more than 200 locks to pass through! Loading, travel and unloading took a full seven days. The competition on this trip was fierce and only one boat could load or unload at any one time. So it was important to arrive first and avoid hanging around – because crews were paid only for the tons of coal they were able to deliver.


Roger - First on right

Work gradually declined throughout the 1960's as ownership of Roger changed. He ended his working life when, worn out, he was replaced on the "Jam ‘Ole" run in 1968 by the Nutfield. The factory itself struggled and soon disappeared leading to the eventual demise in 1970 of the company Blue Line that now operated the boats. By the early 1990s, Roger found himself unloved and in poor repair in a pit beside the canal at Maple Cross. Liable to sink at any moment, Rickmansworth Waterways Trust stepped in to save the day.


Sarah Siddons Cab

For the serious anoraks amongst my Blogistas here are the names of the Metropolitan Electric Locomotives of which Sarah is the last working survivor;

No 1 John Lyon - Named after the Founder of Harrow School

No 2 Oliver Cromwell - Original name for No 2 - Lord Protector and Father of today's Parliamentary system

No 2 Thomas Lord - the only Met Loco to be renamed - Founder of Lords Cricket Ground.

No 3 Sir Ralph Verney - Involved in Railways being built and Verney Junction is named after him;

See; http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/claydon-house-buckinghamshire.html

No 4 Lord Byron - Poet was sent to Harrow School

No 5 John Hampden - M.P... for Wendover

See; http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/08/wendover-buckinghamshire.html

No 6 William Penn - Lived near Amersham imprisoned for his Quaker beliefs.

See; http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/06/poems-on-underground.html

No 7 Edmund Burke - M.P. For Wendover.

No 8 Sherlock Holmes - Fictional Detective based at Baker Street near the Mets HQ

No 9 John Milton - Poet lived Chalfont St Giles.

See; http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/08/surly-republican.html

No 10 William Ewart Gladstone - Prime Minister; Took part in the first trip of the Metropolitan railway on the 24th May 1862

No 11 George Romney - Artist specialising in portrait painting.

No 12 Sarah Siddons - Actress sometimes gave private readings at Baker Street



No13 Dick Whittington - Lord Mayor of London

No 14 Benjamin Disraeli - Tory M.P.

No 15 Wembley - Named after the British Empire Exhibition 1924

No 16 Oliver Goldsmith - Well known Novelist

No 17 Florence Nightingale - Nurse during Crimean War whose sister married Lord Verney.

No 18 Michael Faraday - Involved in research that helped develop the electric railway as we know today

No 19 John Wycliffe - A Religious Reformer no link to London or the Met

No 20 Sir Christopher Wren - Involved with the rebuilding of the city of London